Little Mermaid Bleached version
by Chino-sachiko
Summary: AU Once upon a time, a young mermaid named Orihime met a handsome prince. Unable to live without the guy, she bet with a witch.  The Little Mermaid remake  with a LOT of changes! IchiRuki IshiOri RenTatsu
1. Meeting him

_Okay, This is my first fanfic... please... don't be rude...(° v °)_

_Also...I'm French...so hope you don't mind grammar mistake, and feel free to correct me^^_

_This is a parody of The Little Mermaid (Disney version...) Well, actually, the main plot is the same but, there are a lot of change in it, scene that I cut, and others that I added._

_Well, there will be no surprise in the pairings so I can tell you right now, there will be: Ichiruki, IshiOri and RenTatsu ^^_

_The dialogue may be a bit confuse cause I don't like repeating the names but generally, I skip a line each time another character speak^^_

_Please enjoy^^_

_I don't own Tite kubo's characters ^^_

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**Meeting Him**

**...**

**...**

They were going around in circles for a while. He was getting more and more annoyed as time went stopped to look at her, waiting for her to stop instead of going wherever it was possible. God knows where she would lead them, the ocean was wide. His blue fin stopped moving in annoyance making him go down to the deeps.

Her long orange hair was dancing with the waves. Her green fin swung from left to right, showing her indecision.

Mizuiro looked at her with a frown. "So where are we?"

Orihime scratched her head nervously ."Errr…"

He came closer, he rested his head in the palm of his hand, locking his annoyed eyes into hers ."We are lost, right.?" He rolled his eyes. Hell, he didn't even need an answer!

She turned her head, avoiding his eyes "Errr…"

Mizuiro sighed and began to think out loud, trying to remember their way. "Sooo.. if I'm right we came from the east then…."

Orihime looked at him until she heard sounds of guitar and shouts "There's a music… A party?" she whispered. Wanting to hear it better, she began to swim upward, leaving her friend in his thoughts.

Mizuiro was still mumbling some of his thought when he felt that his companion was no longer there. He looked up to see her making straight to the surface. "Hey! where are you going?" he shouted. Hearing no answer, he began to follow her.

When he reached the top, he saw her leaning on a rock, intensely watching a boat. Music was coming from it, a party it seemed.

"Well, that's a boat… Let's go, we shouldn't be there to begin with…" Not hearing her friend's warning, she came closer to see what was going on this…floating thing. He sighed. 'Damn, she never listen to me… well to anyone for that matter' He followed her.

**...**

**...**

The party was at its height. People were dancing and singing. Girls kept asking them to join the dance. Everyone was wether clapping in their hands or whistling, cheering the dancers and musicians, enjoying the party. Everyone minus him. Ishida was resting on the guardrail with his guard and kind of friend, Keigo. He wanted to avoid the crowd and listen to his beloved sea, he didn't care the party was set up for his birthday, it annoyed him more than ever: he has never been a party-goer after all. He sighed.

"Why do you look so bored? Don't you see the gorgeous chicks there?"

He glared at his companion, lifting his glasses. "Well…sorry to not be interested by those kind of women…"

Keigo sighed "Man, you're really no fun, you should loosen up sometimes!"

He ignored the advice since it came from Keigo, he even wondered why he was staying with him, they were like…totally opposite.

**...**

**...**

Orihime looked at the lights and the different silhouettes she could see. They all seemed to have fun. Their laugh were ringing out the sky."What's this?" She asked, tilting her head to the side, curious about this strange gathering.

"Humans…A party. I don't think you'd like it. Let's go, they mustn't see us…" he started to turn around. He didn't found it boring, but they had to go, they were already late and it would really be a pain in the ass if they didn't leave right now. Yet he let her watching a bit longer, they rarely go to the surface after all.

Filled with curiosity, her eyes were traveling the different human beings when they locked on one. He was leaning on the guardrail gazing to the sea with a smile. He didn't seem to take a part of the party. His dark blue hair was streaming in the wind. The man next to him called him to pour some wine. So he was a prince. Ishida. He looked handsome. Maybe that was the reason she couldn't look away from him. "He's so gorgeous…." she said daydreaming.

Mizuiro was wondering who she was talking about, but when he looked at her, it found it obvious. "well, I'm more interested by women, but yeah, he's not bad…" he said with a chuckle, then got serious again. "Now let's go, we're late for diner!"

She took one last look to the stranger before diving to the deeps of the ocean.

**...**

**...**

They quickly arrived near the palace. They slowed their pace, showing low profile. She was from high nobility, but still, if the queen or any guard saw them they would spend a hard time, forced to explain where they were, with who, for how long, and another bunch of stupid questions coming from their beloved queen's overprotective mind. They were slaloming between the different parts of the outdoor ground to finally reach their secret door which gave us access to the palace. They immediately made their way to the grand throne room. When they eventually arrived, they quickly peaked to see if anyone was there, hen quietly went through it to reach their respective rooms.

"There you are!" Hearing this voice, Orihime gasped, while Mizuiro turned his head in annoyance. A mermaid with dark spiky hair was standing behind them. She wore a blue swimsuit top and on her left shoulder, a red cape with ermine on the top and a small crown above her head. "You're quite late" She said scowling.

"Yeah we know, a few hours is not that much long" Mizuiro said sarcastically. " Did you wait for us for dinner?"

"How dare you respond to the Queen! you little brat!" A red haired mermaid man shouted, as Mizuiro put his fingers in his ears. He was quite tall, had a red fin matching his red crimson hair which was tied in a ponytail, tattoos covering all his bust.

"I think you're the one being impolite here, shouting like that, that's hurting our precious ears." Mizuiro said plainly crossing his arms. "And why are you getting all heat up all of a sudden, got your period, pineapple?" he added smirking, he knew he reacted that way cause he was madly in love with the queen, and teasing him about that was one of Mizuiro's favorite hobbies.

"What you-"

" I think you should stop for now." The spiked hair mermaid looked at Mizuiro. "Well, Mizuiro, you know I absolutely don't care about you"

Renji smirked, Mizuiro laughed "Yeah I know and I don't care at all too, no offense, you're not my type Tatsuki."

She ignored his statement. "But you, Orihime, god, I was so worried!" She put the orange haired mermaid in an embrace. "Thanks god you're all right! I know I taught you some self defense moves but next time go with Renji, I'll be less worried that way…"she said showing the red haired mermaid standing besides her. "Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah sure" Orihime answered in a bright smile.

"So…" Tatsuki turned around to face Mizuiro, glaring at him. "Where were you? What were you doing?"

'There comes the never-ending list of question' Mizuiro thought while rolling his eyes. He wanted to get rid of those quickly. He was so tired he wanted to go to bed right now. "You know the usual thing, hitting on chicks for me and hitting on guys for her." He smirked, knowing how Tatsuki would react, he will be on his bed in less than a minute.

"Did you to get any…women?"

"Of course, who do you think I am?" he laughed.

"Well good to see you're all healthy" She raised her eyebrows

"Thank you!" He smiled.

"You're not one to hang around with, morally speaking of course"

"You have NO idea" he smirked.

"Well, that's always a pleasure to talk to you" She glared at him.

"The pleasure is mine!" He smiled then headed to his quarter.

Tatsuki's eyes followed him, glaring, as he was leaving. She turned her head to Orihime. "Honestly, how can you be best friend with…" she vaguely pointed at the leaving mermaid with her hand. "…that" Orihime looked down. "No, forget what I've just said." She turned and looked skeptically at Orihime. "how can you even stand him?"

"Well, I dunno, he likes to tease you I think" Tatsuki scowled. "Well, can I retire to my quarter, I've got a pretty rude day"

Tatsuki opened her eyes wide "You don't want to eat something?"

"No, thank you, I'm not hungry. Good night" She bowed.

"Yeah, 'night" 'Weird she is always hungry, something happened to her, but what?' Tatsuki frowned.

"Is something wrong? You look worried…"

"Huh, nothing" she shook her head "Can you stay with them for a while, I'm used they go everywhere doing whatever they want, but they were hiding something this time…Can you do that?"

"Of course, no problem, you're such a sweetie when it comes to Orihime, that's cute…" Renji smiled gently blushing.

She punched his head. "I can go without your shitty comments" She said sternly.

"You're welcome" He scowled deeply.

"Yeah thank you…"

**...**

**...**

She was in the grand hall, laying down on a long couch. She was gazing into space, lost in her thought when she stated one of them. "I want to see him again…"

"Who?"

Mizuiro lift his head from the book he was reading and looked at her"Stop thinking about it.."

"Thinking about what?"

" Ahh.. I wish I would be a human.." She sighed.

"A what?"

"I heard that Rukia-san can grant any wish if you pay her…" her smile growing when she stated that.

"Listen, I don't know who gave you these crazy thoughts, but never ask something to Rukia" They both looked at the red haired mermaid, noticing his presence. Renji was a bit pissed they didn't bother answering his questions before, yet he proceeded. "She's evil, she just want to make profits that's all. One of my friend lost a chess game against her when he was young and was forced to be her slave 'til the end of time. I haven't seen him since that" He looked up to see they were both gone. "…Huh… where is she?" He started to look around but they were already far away from there.

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Thanks for reading it! Hope you liked it!

Pictures of the characters (cause my descriptions suck!T_T) on my deviantart account (easy to find I only put these one on it...) which is : chino-sachiko

Please Review ^^

^^Bye


	2. At Rukia's, say your wish, I grant it!

**Welcome at Rukia's, say your wish, I grant it!**

**...**

**...**

Rukia-san was an Exile, she lived in a forbidden part of the ocean, with all the other exiles. Inuzuri, a dirty district filled with murderers, buglers, rapists, and other kind of rats. No one ever go out this district, as well as no one go in it. Going in this place, made you belong to it, made you be one of them, a condemned. Those who dared venture in this area never came back as sane as they were before.

She already knew all these facts. But she wanted to be a human, no matter what. She was scared… The weird inhabitants of Inuzuri were all around her looking at her. Old women with a witch face were glaring at her, mumbling some inaudible spells, young ones with a dirty face were checking her out insulting her, telling her to go back to her perfect world, and men were ogling with a perverted look. Yes, she was beyond scared. She heard that Rukia-san lived in the furthest part of the district, so she had to cross all the small town.

She finally arrived in front of a cavern. Across the entrance, a small wooden counter and nailed on the top of the cavern, an old wooden panel saying "Rukia, best bettor of the entire ocean" and in smaller letters "and Ichigo her annoying underling". She smiled, she finally was there. She peeked at the inside. Seeing no life being she asked shyly. "Anoo…Is there someone here? Rukia-san?"

A tall scowling mermaid with spiky orange hair came carrying several boxes. He had a metal blue shark fin and wore a necklace made of a few shark teeth, his chest was of course totally bare. He stopped, surprised to see someone at the entrance. "Errr, we're closed right now…" he said putting the boxes on the sand.

"Oh…" she couldn't hide her disappointment

He scratched the back of his head, not looking at her "sorry…"

"Who is it?"

He turned his head to the inside, then shouted. "A client! she wanna see you, but we're closed"

A small girl suddenly appear beside him, wearing a big smile on her face. "No problem!" She technically wasn't a mermaid: she had two leg and a strapless dress whose bottom looked like tentacles. She had a bang across her face and an octopus shaped hairclip. She leaned on the counter, cupping her own face in her small hands and swinging her legs with an innocent smile."Hey beautiful, what is bothering you to come to my shop?^^"

Orihime started to blush furiously and look away from the two mermaids. "Well…there's a guy…"

Rukia threw up her arms happily. "Yeah love story! I love love stories!" she shouted, earning a glare from her counterpart.

Orihime smiled a little from the sudden outburst. "Oh!…well the problem is he is human and you know…I'm not…so was wondering if youcouldturnmeintohuman!"

Ichigo and Rukia blinked a few times, both shocked from the sudden outburst, not really sure they understood clearly.

Still moved from her shock, Rukia said in a nervous laugh. "well…I think I have the perfect thing for you, just wait here" She went back inside.

Ichigo looked at Rukia as she was rushing inside. He kept his eyes locked there for a while when he suddenly seemed to acknowledge her presence. He took his eyes off the empty space and turned around to look at her before saying sharply. "you shouldn't do that you know…"

She quickly rose her head, surprised he had talked. "huh? why?"

He sighed and looked away. "nothing…"

"Here it iiiiiis! the reaaaally rare drink-me-human-you-will potion! It will transform you in human for 3 full days!" Rukia said in her sing-song voice not even tired from her previous sprint.

Ichigo frowned at her and grabbed the bottle. "Only 3? I read a full month when I was cleaning yesterday…" he muttered, examining the label.

"Well, basically it is but…" She waved a "come near" sign with her hand. He bend his head so she could reach his ear. "Urahara tricked me, he sold it to me but it was already out of date since 10 years…" she whispered in his ear. He smirked, she was so clueless and naive, well, that made her cute! She blushed from her confession looking down, ashamed of having been tricked so easily. But she quickly put her commercial smile on her face, turning toward her customer. "Okay, is that all?"

Orihime nods.

Rukia bent her head making her face coming closer to Orihime's. "You know I'm also selling love potion! It can be really useful, I do a discount on the second purchase!" she said with a big grin.

"well, thank you, but if I do this it won't be real love…" Orihime said with a gentle smile.

Rukia looked a bit disappointed by Orihime's statement. She frowned. "well…who cares 'bout real love or not, as long as you can have what you want." Ichigo frowned.

She quickly replace her frown by a big smile. "Now let's talk about the price! I don't really sell my things you know, I bet on it so let's bet!" Orihime quickly nods. "Let's see...If you manage to make him fall in love with you, you win, and I can even turn you into human for the rest of your life! otherwise..mmmmm… you'll have to give me the latest plush edition of Chappy! Deal?"

"Deal!"

She grinned and joined hand obviously satisfied by the deal. "Great! so now cheers!" She filled two wine glasses, one with the potion, the other with strawberry milk. Their glasses clinked together and they drank all their respective drink. Orihime started to feel dizzy, she saw everything twirling around and had to lean on the counter. Rukia was looking at her, smirking. "Oh I forgot to tell you, the potion is so strong that you won't have any voice for few time, enjoy!^^" And she passed out.

Mizuiro was panting. He definitely sucked at physical actives, well those kind of physical activities… He took a deep breath and looked around him. Where was this damned shop? That's when he heard people talking and shouting. He tried to see where these voices came from. As he finally found the location, his eyes widened. He saw an unconscious Orihime, in the arms of an orange haired mermaid and a small girl laughing beside them. He went closer to the group.

"Hem… excuse me… I'm one of her friend, was looking for her, is she… is she alright?"

Both Rukia and Ichigo turned their head to see who was talking.

Rukia smiled widely at him. "Yeah! everything is alright! Her wish has been granted! Let's celebrate!Well…the only problem is that…she is turning into a human right now… it will soon be hard for her to breath under the sea… All in all" She joined her hands together, making them clap. "I think you should hurry getting to the surface."

"Oh my god!" He shouted, quickly taking his friend from the mermaid's arms. "It was a real pleasure!" He bowed and rushed to the surface.

"Pleasure is the same here!" She answered with a sing song voice, waving to him as he disappeared from her sight. "Ah! It always feels good to do a good deed" She smiled with satisfaction.

He looked at her, frowning. "Are you sure about this?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked totally clueless.

"Well…this spell…it is pretty dangerous…"

"Don't worry…I never loose my bets" She said turning her head toward him, a big grin across her face

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_There's a picture of Ichigo and Rukia mermaid style on my deviantart account!^^ (chino-sachiko)_

_Hope you liked this chapter^^_

_Please revieeeeeeeeew!_


	3. Don't wake me up, it seems so real

**Don't wake me up, it seems so real…**

**...**

**...**

In this morning, the sun was shining bright, the waves went up and down, licking her toes. She was half naked as she no longer had her fin but still wore her seashell bra. She was still sleeping, dreaming she could walk and dance like any other human being. Her face showed happiness and peace. The call of the seagulls couldn't wake her up, nor could do the screams of her best friend.

Mizuiro was lying on the sand, but was still in the water since he still was a mermaid and couldn't go far away from the sea. He was worried about his friend, he knew she was alive as he could see her chest going up and down, but still, she could be hurt or be seen lying there half naked.

"Orihime! Oi Orihime! Wake up!" He tried to go by her. But a wave swept him away from the shore, making him curse. "Crap, I can't reach her!"

As if she heard him curse, she opened her eyes and groggily sat down, slowly looking around. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She started to be really worried, how could it be? She tried again, but no could do, tears begun appeared in her eyes, then she remembered Rukia-san said something about voice before her passing out but couldn't figure what.

Seeing her waking up, he called her. "Finally awake, you're not really a morning person you know?" He waited for her to answer but nothing came, then he saw her worried face. "Is something wrong?" She turned her face, her eyes were teary. She opened her mouth and tried to say some words but still nothing came. His eyes lowered, he knew what was happening to her, to her voice, and it saddened him since her voice was the most cheering and happy he had ever heard. "Ichigo explained everything to me…This potion you drank, it is really really bad for your throat, well…" He paused, and looked like he was trying to remember something. "Everybody's throat. When someone drinks it, it severely attacks your vocal cords. That's why you won't be able to speak for a while."

Her mouth made a O, then she smiled that said don't worry, I'll be fine, as everything I wanted has come true. He returned her smile. "Yeah, I'm not worry at all, you can win his heart just by your smile." Then he adds "And your body of course, just to remind you, you're half naked." He grinned.

She frowned for a few seconds, not realizing what he had just said, then slowly looked down to checked his words, but quickly remove her head up. Actually, she was not so surprise to see her nakedness but more to see her new legs. To check if they were ever real, she started touching, pinching them. Feeling her very own flesh, she smiled wide.

"How does it feel? Oh yeah, you can not answer… Try them! Can they walk? Can they jump? Do they work perfectly, otherwise we have to ask for a refund!"

Doing what he said, she tried to stand up and made a few steps, and quickly turned around, wearing a huge smile on her face.

She proceeded looking at her new pair of legs, dancing, jumping.

He Started to applaud her when he heard some noise coming from the right. "Oi, dress up, quickly! Someone's coming!"

She shook her head, not knowing what to do, then quickly hide behind a rock where she found an old and used sail with many holes in it.

**...**

**...**

Ishida liked having early walks on the shore to feel the sea breeze blowing on his face, hear the sound of the waves, the screams of the seagulls. Well…enjoying the early shore peace. That's was until Asano Keigo decided to come with him to make it even better… Well…noisier would be the correct word. Well, at least Keigo didn't mind he didn't answer nor acknowledge any of his statement.

"Gosh! Look at this chick! She's so hot AND she's half naked!"

"Stop stating insanities! You're dreaming out loud and that's annoying me like HELL. I can hardly put up with your constant babbling, let alone you dreaming out loud!"

"Don't ever call me a liar!" Keigo said as he pointed his index at Ishida as a threat warn. Ishida rolled his eyes. Keigo grabbed Ishida's head with his hand forcing him to look up and straight. Ishida's eyes widened. "See, there's a sexual bomb half naked."

Ishida immediately freed himself from his friend's hands and rushed toward the young woman, screaming "Come on, let's help her!"

As he came closer to her he saw her hiding behind a rock. 'Oh, she is hiding from me…' he thought a little disappointed. 'Well… that's right…she's half naked…' He slapped himself for his own stupidity. When he was closer enough, he tried to reassure her, and was glad she covered herself with some…thing."Hey…good morning young lady, may I help you, if you follow me, I can provide you some…decent…clothes" He blushed… that was REALLY lame…

Keigo burst out behind him, smirking. "And you say I'm the pervert, don't you think your statement sounded a bit pedophilistic?"

Ishida screamed, his face red from both anger and shame. "Shut up!"

Orihime couldn't believe her eyes… He was there standing in front of her, offering her his help, the man of her dreams. She was so happy she tried to say something without any results.

Ishida looked at her bright face. Yeah she definitely was a sexy bomb like Keigo would say, but she was so much more… she was… beautiful. As he was checking her out, he noticed she tried to tell him something, but no sound came. "God, she's dumb.."

"Wooh! that was rude even coming from you!" Keigo put his hand on Ishida's shoulder.

Ishida frowned, worried. "No, I mean she can't speak! Come here, I'll help you." He said as he took his jacket off to put it on her shoulders. He turned toward Keigo. "Keigo, tell the domestic to prepare a room, we have a guest!"

Keigo made a goofy smile. "Right now!"

**...**

**...**

Ishida had provided her a big room on the last floor, with a beautiful view on the shore. Then he left her 'He's probably busy doing his own business, he's a prince after all…' She thought sighing. She went too the balcony to admire the view. She already missed the ocean, but didn't have time missing anything… If she started thinking like that better stay in the ocean. But living without seeing him everyday would be too painful. She did it for a couple of days and it had nearly killed her. Three days… She had to make a move quickly. But for now on, she couldn't go find him, he had already helped her…She heard a cough. What was her surprise when she saw him at the door.

He forgot to tell her that he was coming back… well she couldn't go to far, she was wearing old rags after all… He knew she would stay, but was still relieved when he saw her on the balcony. She was really gorgeous, her orange hair floating in the air, but he knew he had to stop thinking that, he was a prince, couldn't fall for any woman found on the shore. He coughed to let her acknowledge his presence. When he was sure she had seen him, he came in the room. "Is the place alright? The room may be quite small but… this is the best view in the whole castle…well after the one in my room of course…"

She nods.

He blushed and scratched his head. "Errr…here is a sketch, so you we can better enjoy your presence. Not that… we weren't enjoying your presence before… I mean… " He blushed. "You can express yourself it would be easier for you to make some…friends. Oh, and there's a dress I sewed for you." He handed her the dress, blushing. "Lunch will be served at noon, get ready and ask the maids if you need anything, I will tour you around this afternoon, so rest a little."

He went out, closing the door, leaving her blushing furiously. Little did she knew he was as red as her.

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_So what did you guys think? I can't write IshiOri... T_T I always come up with something cheesy... Sorry v_v Plus she can't speak...can't say weird things as she usually do...It's quite a pain in the ass... It makes the scene even more difficult to write... T_T_

_Anyway, hope you still enjoyed^^_

_Ichiruki and TatsuRen in the next chapter! _


	4. Things couldn't go so easily

Thank you for the reviews! They really cheered me up^^

Small chapters this week... Sorry V_V

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**Things couldn't go so easily**

**...**

**...**

Tatsuki was sitting on her throne, looking angry at the man bowed in front of her.

She lift her eyebrow. "So… you were telling tales and then you lost her sight…" She paused. He looked away to avoid her glare. "God, that's the lamest excuse I've ever heard…."

He lift his head, not pleased she didn't believe what he said. "But it is true!" He screamed.

A vein popped out of her head. "That's even worst, Idiot!" She threw him the nearest thing she could reach, which was a small table. It hit Renji right in the face making him blood, but she she couldn't care less, he deserved it this idiot for being such a moron! Then she sat down and sighed. "I knew I couldn't rely upon you…"

He bowed. "I'm deeply sorry…" He yelled, he was in deep deep shit, and needed to get out of there. "..but I think I know where she may be…" He said lowly emphasizing each word.

She lift her eyebrow. _'He's actually not as useless as I thought' _""And where would her be? Under the sea? Come on, I know you can do better than that."

Her superior attitude really pissed him right now. He slowly stood up, glancing defiantly at her. She glared at him. "Well, perhaps you think that you're all better than me, but I, at least know why she is there right now, and what she was hiding to you".

She began to loose her composure and he smirked at this sight. She lifted her eyebrow, not pleased him answering back."Well, if you are so all and mighty, enlighten me…"

Seeing her reaction, he smirked. "Of course, that's always a pleasure…I think she turned into a human."

Her eyes widened. "Why would she do that?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Well, for what I've understood, she fell in love with a mere human."

She squealed "Aaaw, that's so cute! Is he good-looking?"

He gaped, surprised by her not-so-her reaction. When he regained his senses he mumbled. "I… I don't know…I've never seen him…"

"Oh…" She looked quite disappointed. "By the way, how did she manage to transform into a human?"

"Well…Rukia's done I think…" His eyes darkened.

"Oooh, Rukia! How is she doing?" She asked, smiling.

"I don't know, and honestly, I don't care at all!" he snapped, his cheeks red by anger.

"Oh…sorry…I…kind of…forgot you don't like her…" She murmured, looking down. "If you wanna talk about that, I'm here"

_'Don't like her…more like hating her…_' He thought. "Well, thanks but it's alright…" Even if it brought him back sad memories, he couldn't help feeling happy she cared about him.

"So, go pack your things" She suddenly ordered.

"Huh?" He was not sure of the meaning of her words. "I beg your pardon?"

"I said, go pack your things, I already knew that you were dumb, but…deaf…that's new!" She added sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"B..but why?" He babbled.

"Well, why not? You failed in your mission in the ocean, go fix it up in the Human world!"

He frowned. "But that's not my mission…My mission is to protect you!" he shouted.

"Well, first, I absolutely don't need you to protect me because, you know what? I can kick you whenever I want. Secondly, you can do both your missions, I'm going with you, idiot! How would I spy otherwise?" She rolled her eyes.

He couldn't believe his ears. He was going to the Human world (well he didn't care about that one) with Tatsuki (He definitely cared about this one) He started to shout for joy, when something popped up in his mind." B…but how do we get there?"

She smirked and showed him a blue crystal bottle. His eyes widened at the sight.

"The... the latest edition of the famous drink-me-human-you-will potion! How did you manage to get one?"

" Well, I threat a stupid merchant, you know, the weird one , blond hair, hat and clogs..."

"Uraharaaa? " He shouted, his mouth grand open, not believing a single word she had just said.

" Himself!" She grinned, amused by his expression of disbelief.

" You're scary, you know that?" He smiled to her.

" Thank you!" She smiled too.

"You're welcome" He grinned.

'kay, stop wasting time, let's head to the human world!" She shouted pointing her forefinger to the surface.

**...**

**...**

Ichigo leaned into his armchair, watching her in deep thought. _Come on you can play this turn with one quick guess…_ "Your turn!" he shouted, annoyed.

"I'm thinking you moron!" She shouted back to him. He rolled his eyes.

_'God, she totally sucks at it, but I can't win too easily, last time I did I had to tell her it was luck otherwise she would keep ask me why I didn't win back then… Back then… If only she knew… Well, now I have to lose or not have a landslide victory… Even more difficult than losing…Oh! she played…huh? What have she done? Does she so badly want to lose? But I can't take her queen right now, we've just begun…Oh god help me! Find a way for me not to crush her right now!…You're not so vocal today god… caught a cold? Okay, go to plan B : let's distract her!'_

"huh…about the bet.." he said carefully.

"which one?" She asked, still looking at the board.

"You know, the one you did earlier" _'Come on, look over there_' He pleaded to himself.

"Oh, this one! Well, what about it?" She looked up. '_Gotcha_!'

"Are you really sure…The spell is really dangerous. If you-" He frowned. Well it was supposed make her stop thinking about the game, but he was actually serious about this same conversation.

"Shut up! Don't you know I never lose my bet? Why are you so wondering 'bout this one?" She leaned back into her chair, annoyed.

He looked down "It's just that…" He bent down toward her, put his hand through her hair and locked his eyes in her, blushing "I don't want you to be hurt…"

She blushed then quickly stood up to show him her back so he couldn't see her red face "Well you don't have to worry 'cause I've no intention to lose this one" She felt he kept his eyes locked on her so quickly added "Besides, I'm wondering where she is with her stupid true love…" she said that in her usual sing-song voice which pissed him so much, but she also felt her throat going dry as she talked.

"You are not going to spy her, aren't you?" he lifted his eyebrow, ignoring the pain in his chest caused by her previous sentence.

She turned to face him and grinned "You are totally right, that's what I like in you, you always know what I'm thinking!"

'I would say it is a curse…' He thought while sighing.

She pushed the chessboard out of the table overthrowing all the chess pieces and put a crystal orb instead.

" Well let's spy…" She put her hands around the orb and bent her head forward to have a better sight of the orb.

Orihime's face appeared in the orb, she was showing a sketch to the man seated next to her, the said man was laughing. Rukia deep-frowned.

" See something you don't like?" Ichigo said smirking.

She pouted, then suddenly shouted "Move your lazy ass, we are going!"

"Huh, where?" he couldn't hide his surprise.

"The human world" She grinned.

* * *

Hope you liked it^^

Yeahh...Renji is not friend with Rukia... He was bast friend with Ichigo but I can't tell you more right now, I'm saving it for later ;)

Next chapter: Everyone is heading to the human world^^


	5. I feel more human than humans themselves

**_Sorry for the late update, I was so busy at school this week, I could barely save time for myself T_T_**

**_Long chapter to make it up (Even though nothing much happens in there v_v sooooorry...)_**

* * *

...

**5. I think I feel more human than humans themselves.**

...

...

"Come on, hurry up! We don't have all the day!"

"Shut up! I'm not used to these…things…" He shouted climbing awkwardly the stairs

"Oi, don't order me around! And these things are called legs dumbass!"

Renji rolled his eyes and looked at her who were standing a few steps above him. She was wearing a long shirt-like creamy tunic whose collar went down her shoulders, and sleeves were rolled up to her elbows. She had not buttoned the top. The tunic was going down to the middle of her calf but was wide opened on the front. She was wearing black skinny trousers and leather tight boots which came up to the middle of her thigh. She was sexier than ever. His clothes were matching hers: a loose creamy unbuttoned shirt, dark skinny trousers and leather loose knee boots.

He stared to her. "Shouldn't you wear smarter clothes? I dunno, a dress, something fancy, you're a queen after all…"

She huffed. "You know I've never liked formal clothes…Besides, we're here to INFILTRATE. So we have to look like normal human beings. Now move your stupid ass faster, we have to find her!"

"We don"t even know were she is…" He rolled his eyes.

"Well, you told me she must be in the prince's castle, didn't you?"

"Yeah, most probably, but we still don't know how to go to this damn castle!" He rolled his eyes.

"Well, first, we have to find some horses!"

"By horses, you mean…like seahorses?" He asked frowning.

"Yeah kind of…They are pretty useful if one's need to move fast and far in the human world. We have to go to town first, and we'll also gather informations 'bout the prince."

...

...

They both were standing on the shore looking at the castle.

"So now…what?" He crossed his arms.

"Hmmm…Let me think…" Her eyebrows frowned as she begun to concentrate.

Ichigo sighed and said sarcastically. "Oh, I don't know…maybe find some decent clothes!"

"Here you go Mr All-and-mighty!" She shouted angrily throwing a big bag to him.

He sighed annoyed glancing at her. "Tsss… you should have give it as soon as we transformed…" His muttering earned him a glare.

He began digging in the big bag and found some decent clothes. "Oi!" She turned her head toward him. He handed her a piece of clothe. "Here, take this! Unless you wanna keep this octopus dress but I don't think it is really human like… Not that I mind but…" She cut him by angrily taking her shirt.

They soon begun to dress. He had a simple long sleeves creamy shirt without a collar nor button. Black trousers and black loose boots, the right one coming up to his knee, the left one to the middle of his calf. She wore a blue long sleeves shirt tunic with blue stripes. It came down to the middle of her thigh. Its bottom was unbuttoned.

"So, what's your plan?" He asked looking at her.

"First, we observe the situation, if it goes wrong, we step in."

He frowned. "When you say, going wrong… Do you mean she screw it up?"

"No, if she manage to make him fall in love with her, WE, screw it up! Now come on, lead the way!" She smiled, one arm up pointing in the air.

He stared at her. "You don't know how to reach the castle, do you?"

Her cheeks reddened. " Yes, I do! It's just that sometimes... I can let you decide a little…"

He rolled his eyes. "Hm, sure…"

He begun to walk to the castle and she happily followed him.

...

...

They just had lunch, they got up. Ishida offered his hand to her. She blushed.

"Wooooh! Someone have interest in someone else!" Keigo shouted, ruining the moment between the two.

"That's not interest, that's called gallantry, go learn some vocabulary Keigo!" He said sharply.

He turned his head toward her. She was wearing the dress he had quickly sewed. It was mid-sleeves white dress which was coming down to her thigh and had a salmon pink round collar and a waistband in the same color, which showed her curves. As they were going to visit the kingdom, Ishida provided her a comfortable pair of loose boots.

"Have you rested well? I'm gonna show you a part of the town, it's quite beautiful around there, but pretty tiring. Tell me if you prefer stay here." Ishida asked her with a worried look on his face.

She shook her head.

He smiled. "Great! Just wait a minute, the carriage may soon arrive."

"Oh, Uryuu, can I come with you, can I come pleeeaaaase!" Keigo put his puppy eyes but they just annoyed Ishida even more.

"No." He said plainly.

"WHAT? You turn me down just like that?" He shouted.

Ishida nodded. "Yeah, just like that."

"Uryuuuuu!" He sobbed his heart out. "Uryuuuuu, pleaaaaase!" He grabbed Ishida's sleeve and pulled it toward him.

A vein popped out of Ishida's head. He shook his arm furiously to get rid of his clingy friend. "Stop it! You're really pissing me off right now!"

Keigo instantly dropped the prince's sleeve, but only to grab Orihime's. "You, my goddess, would you let me go with you?" He sobbed.

Orihime blushed. Ishida pushed him away and glared at him. "So now what, you're annoying my guest as well? Fuck, you're so damn annoying! Fine, you can come!"

Keigo sobbed but it was from happiness. He threw himself at Ishida with a big smile. "Ooooh, thank you Uryuuuuu, I knew we were best friends forever! Tell me, you were acting right now, huh?"

Ishida vigorously shook his arm to get rid of the thankful man. "Let go of me, let go of me, you moocher!"

Orihime watch them as they fought against each other: Keigo to hug Ishida, the other, to break the embrace. 'He's kind' she thought. 'He seems to look down upon his friend, but deep down, he really care." She smiled at this sight.

...

...

They were walking in the market, trying to find stables where they could hire horses, when they saw a small pen with a few horses in it. They came closer to it and saw an imposing man (he was taller than Renji). He was bald and had a walrus mustache.

Renji frown at the sight. The man looked harsh. "Let me speak." But it was to late, she was already talking with him.

"Good morning sir!"

"…"

"We really need 2 horses right now, can you help us, we can pay of course!" She asked him with a sweet smile.

He grunted. "And what does a filthy woman of yours know 'bout horses?"

Renji made one step closer, ready to punch the man, but Tastuki stopped him with her arm. "Don't interfere, I can handle this myself." She whispered to him. Her attention went back to the merchant. She smirked and asked cockily. "So you think, you're all better than me? You think I can't ride a horse cause I'm not a stupid man? You're so despicable, and I thought people so narrow-minded didn't exist anymore, think I've got it wrong."

She had really pissed the man off. He clench his fist, ready to throw her a punch. She rolled her eyes. He tried to punch her face but she easily step aside to dodge it, took his hand with only one bare hand and threw his face on the grown. She scrubbed her hand grinning, satisfied.

Renji gaped. "That's what you call handle the situation? Fuck, I fought you were gonna use some… oral persuasion or something like that, something…diplomatic. Not beating him as hell!"

She stared. "Oral persuasion?" She threw her arms in the air. "Oh, come on! I thought you knew me better than that!" She refocused on the nearly dead man with a huge grin, asking him in a sing song voice. "Now, can we get some horses?".

...

...

They were standing in front of the fortifications of the castle. The walls were plain white and smooth, had nothing they could grab to help them climb, and god, they were high.

"Why can't we go in?" she took her head in her hands, tears in the corner of her eyes, looking away to the ocean, sighing in despair.

He rolled his eyes. "Drop the acting part please, and this is a damn castle, C-A-S-T-L-E, CASTLE! Did you think it would be like 'oh, good morning, welcome to our castle, you wanna see the prince? Sure just wait here' It was built to protect!" He started to move sweeping all around with his eyes.

She glared at him, then pouted. "But I wanna go in!"

He ignored her and put his fingers in his ears, keeping looking for whatever he was searching.

"Hey, stop ignoring me!" she followed him and caught up with him as he was kneeling, inspecting something. "Hey, don't you hear me?" She told him annoyed, but her eyes were suddenly filled with curiosity as she saw what he hold in his hand. "Oooh, what are you doing, what's this, can I have it?"

He rolled his eyes. _'God, she swings mood faster than the waves roll'_ . He thought. "I'm looking if we can use this as a rope."

"A rope, what for?" She asked, tilting her head to the side quizzically.

"To climb the wall, stupid! what else for?"

Her eyes widened from realization"Ooooh, I see!" He rolled her eyes. "You can be really clever sometimes." He blushed. "And is it okay? I mean, the rope…"

He nodded. "Yeah, I think it is resistant enough to bear my weight." He said while he pulled from the two sides of the rope to check its strength.

"Great!" she kissed him on the cheek. His face reddened at this sudden display of affection. "You're the best" She said, then hurried to the wall. He touched his cheek with his hand, still blushing and caught up with her ext to the wall.

He tied a heavy stone at the end of the rope and swung it before throwing it with all his strength. It went beyond the top of the wall but it weren't stop by the angle of the wall and fell down. He begun to swing the rope again when he felt something pulling his sleeve; He turned he said and when he saw her, she eagerly asked. "Hey, hey, can I try?"

He blinked at her. "Errrr, I don't think you can reach the top of the wall…" he smirked.

She took a step back pouting, folded her arms on her tiny chest and pouted. "Well, I think you think wrong!"

"Okay, try it, but it will be a waste of time, not that I care, I'm not the one who's in a hurry." he handed the rope to her.

She took it, huffing. She threw it against the wall, but it barely reached halfway.

Ichigo smirked. "Told ya!"

She glared at him "Shut up stupid strawberry, and watch." She threw it and threw it again and again witout better results.

He rolled his eyes "Have you done? Can I take it back so we can have at least a chance to climb over this stupid wall."

She looked down, unwilling to admit her mistake.

A few second went by. He looked at her and finally begun to walk away. "Fine, if that's what you want, we can stay like that all the day."

She quickly gave him back the rope harshly, keeping her eyes on the other side, not wanting to face him.

"Thank you."

He threw it a few times before managing to make him hang on the edge. He smirked. "Gotcha!" He pulled it to check if it wouldn't fall when they would climbed. He smiled, it was perfect.

"I'll go first in case there's a problem" She nodded.

He started the climb. When he reached the edge he sat on it. As he thought there was still a moat to cross before reaching the gardens. He frowned, it would be easy for him to jump, but for her…he was already unsure about the climb, let alone jump from such a high place. Maybe, he should find a better entrance to the castle.

"Oi, what are you doing? Hurry up, and give me the rope already!"

He sighed and cursed her impatience while throwing her the rope. "Here it is! and be careful!" He warned her, but she was already beside him.

He blinked "Wh…How did you get there that fast?"

"There's a thing called talent, Ichigo, you should be aware of that, although you don't have any."

He glared at her, and there he was worried about her, this little arrogant bitch… His worries all turned into anger. He was beyond pissed, how dare she! Who found the castle? Who had the idea of using a rope? Definitely not her! He wanted to get the upper hand again. "Oh, I see, well, I eager to see how you'll deal with the…" She jumped and gracefully arrived on the ground. "moat…" He scowled.

"Hey, as you said earlier, we don't have all the day!"

"Bitch…" He muttered before jumping.

"Huh? What did you said?"

"Nothing…Let's head to the castle!" He said while going past her.

"Hey! Don't take the lead! I'm the one giving orders there!" He kept his pace, smiling. She pouted seeing he had no intention to wait for her and followed him.

...

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**_Thanks for reading it^^Hope you liked it! Feel free to review 3_**

**_As usual, you can see Rukia, Ichigo, Renji and Tatsuki's outfits on my deviantart account (chino-sachiko)... Actually, I draw them before writing ^^" And I find it really difficult to describe them (plus English is not my native language ")._**

**_Do you like the titles? They don't really match with what happens but I like them they are kind of Gintama's style_**

**_Tell me if you find Rukia annoying cause...it absolutely NOT on purpose (I luv her she's my favorite character!3)_**

**_Next week: Human world again^^_**


	6. The lake is the new fashionable place

**6 The lake is the new fashionable place, so, let's head to the lake!**

...

...

...

The carriage was leaving the castle, making straight to the town. The castle were a bit away from it, so they could enjoy the landscape unfolding in front of them. It was really beautiful. The trees on the side of the road, the sun was shining above them, warming them. A peaceful afternoon, they all were enjoying it. No one talked during the trip, even Keigo, but that was for the better, this way they could better enjoy the twittering of the birds, the sound of the sea breeze which cooled their faces.

The carriage slowed down as they entered into the town. The sounds of the nature were replaced by the noise of the crowd. People shouted, chatting, telling the latest gossips.

...

...

He was getting the horses ready, Tatsuki were at the market to get them something to eat. he was busy adjusting the saddle when he saw people gathering on the side of the road. 'What's happening?' he thought.

The crowd was yelling. He sighed, ready to go back to what he was doing when he saw a familiar orange hair. "Orihime!" he said, unbelieving his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and blinked several times. He hadn't dreamt. He really saw Orihime right now. God, he had to quickly find Tatsuki now.

As if she had read in his mind, she was standing in front of him carrying a few bags. "What's with this face, looks like you have just seen a ghost…"

He smirked. "Better!" She rose her eyebrow. "I've seen Orihime!"

She gaped. "NO WAY!"

He smiled looking at her reaction. "She was in a carriage, with a blue haired nerd and a brown haired goofy!"

"Oh! She managed to get the prince's attention!"

They both turned around to see who was talking to them and gaped. They both shouted. "Mi…Mizuiro!"

"What are you doing there?" Tasuki asked him, still shocked.

He rolled his eyes and sighed "I should be the one asking you that…I'm here to help Orihime, she has 3 days to make the prince falling in love with her. And what about you?" He tossed his head and looked curiously at the bottom of their body. "What happened to your fishy body part? Are you there to take her back to the ocean?"

"No, the same as you, we are here to help, even though we didn't know how 'til we met you." She smiled.

"And about the metamorphose?"

"Drink-me-human-you-will potion!" She smirked.

He glared. " Couldn't you say that you had some earlier? We could have avoided to bet with Rukia!"

"What! You bet with Rukia!"

"Cool down, Renji, she's not the devil you know." Tatsuki patted his shoulder but he shoved her hand down, turning around.

Tatsuki sighed. "What do we have to give her if she wins?"

"The latest plush edition of Chappy"

She chuckled. '_Sounds so Rukia-ish'_ She turned to Renji. "See, told you it couldn't be bad."

He huffed. "Whatever…" He muttered.

She turned back to Mizuiro. "So, do you know were she went?"

"Not really, I just know that she's gonna visit the town all this afternoon, that's all."

"Okay, come on, Renji, we're gonna catch her up! By the way…" She turned to look to Mizuiro. "Don't tell her that we are here!"

"Sure… Your majesty!" He replied sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes and muttered "Asshole…"

They both mounted on their horses, leading them to the town centre, leaving Mizuiro alone.

...

...

After avoiding dozens of guards, falling in endless traps, being attacked by guard dogs, loosing their way more than he could count, they finally arrived in the castle. They were both exhausted, wanted to find this damn prince right now.

A maid made her way to them. "Ano excuse me?"

Ichigo turned to look at her. She blushed at the sight of the gorgeous man. "What are you doing there?" she stammered, her face red like a tomato.

"Oh, we have to see the prince, is it possible? I mean…" He scratched the back of his head. "I know it's rude to show without appointment or something like that…"

She shook her head. "Oh, no, no, no! Don't worry about that! Etoo…I mean…it would be ok…" She blushed. "for you…"

"Oh, really? That's great! Thank you!" He smiled.

She blushed even more. "Well… the problem is that he's out right now…but you can wait 'til he returns, and you and I can visit the castle…"

"Yeah, sounds great! What do you think Rukia?"

Rukia had watched the whole exchange and it made her blood boiling. How dare she? How dare she ignore her like that? How dare she flirts openly like that with HER Ichigo? Well he was hers since…well… since he was her slave, nothing more… And this idiot, couldn't see it at all, how she was all over him, speaking to him with a fake sweet voice, touching him overtime she could. Actually, she hadn't touched him yet, BUT she knew that if she could she would caress every single part of him.

Ichigo watched her as she was glaring at both the maid and him. "Errrr…Rukia? Is there something wrong?"

"Maybe she is a bit tired, there are plenty of empty room were she can rest." The maid said worryingly.

She approached her hand to Ichigo's arm. Rukia saw red. She harshly grabbed Ichigo's arm, pulling him to her. His eyes widened, not understanding what was happening.

"No! WE don't need your help at all, you filthy little brat! And we're in a hurry so WE don't have time for you and your little visit! Now get out the hell of here, cause WE are BOTH sick of you, and WE are leaving!" She shouted to the poor little maid who quickly bent before running far away from them.

Ichigo forcefully freed his arm from her hand and glared at her. "What was that? That was really rude. She was just trying to help us and you scared the hell out of her!"

She didn't wanted to justify her actions. "Well…she was clingy… she absolutely wanted us to go with her!"

"That's called Gentleness, have you ever heard of that word? Tss… Seeing you, I'm sure you never had and you never will."

"Fine! So go catch up with your little whore and leave me if think she's so better than me! I don't even need you to begin with!" She shouted.

"That's not what I said!And she is not a whore!" He sighed. "Come on, calm down and let's calmly look after the prince, 'kay?"

"I am perfectly calm!" She hissed. "You're the one who wants to split up!"

He rolled his eyes. _'Why did she have to be so stubborn?'_ He took her hand and said gently. "Come on, calm down and let's go look after the prince…"

She sniffed. " 'kay…"

...

...

The streets of Karakura were splendid, its inhabitants were kind and happy, loved their afternoon was pretty eventful, all thanks to Keigo. The carriage was going out of town, Ishida was touring Orihime around, telling her the history of the kingdom when suddenly, a rabbit crossed the road and Keigo pulled the reins hard, making Orihime falling on the top of Ishida.

They were both speechless, blushing furiously from the position they were in. Their faces were less than a inch from the other's, their noses were touching. They were too shy to close the space which separate their lips but didn't want to pull apart either. They were looking intensely in the eyes of the other. They stood like this for a few minutes, ignoring that there was a world besides them two.

But the world quickly reminded them it existed all well and good… "Oooooooh! I can sense love filling the air!" Keigo shouted, seeing the two in the back of the carriage. Ishida rolled his eyes, and Orihime hastily got up from him, blushing. "I want a hug too! Let's do a big hug all together!" Keigo shouted, opening his arms for a hug.

"No thank you." Ishida said sternly with deaden Keigo was about to retort but Ishida cut him right away. "Keigo…" He paused. "Can you go back to town? I think we forgot to buy underwear for the maids in the castle…. Can you do that for me? You get to choose the model." Ishida told his friend, trying to sound as serious as possible.

Keigo winked at Ishida and gave him a thumb-up. "Don't worry Ishida, I'll fulfill your request no matter what!" He said before leaving the carriage as fast as he could.

Ishida immediately sat on the driver's seat. "Finally, I managed to get rid of him!" He sighed.

She took her sketch and quickly wrote. 'isn't he your friend?'

"Yeah…kind of, I like him to a certain extend, but sometimes he gets to clingy and annoying. Having him…well…I would say… half an hour a day is more than enough!"

She silently giggled.

He looked at her. "And… Actually, I wanted to spend the afternoon alone." He blushed "…with you."

She blushed.

He begun to regain his composure. "Oh, now that we're free from Keigo, I wanted to show you something." He smiled.

She tilted her head to the side quizzically.

"Hope, you're not afraid of water, I'm gonna take you out in a boat."

She happily clapped in he hands smiling, to show him she was eagerly waiting for this.

He smiled. "Thats great!" He flicked the rein to make the horses moving.

Orihime quickly turned to look to the stream where Mizuiro was the entire time. He raised his thumb to wish her good luck and dived in the water to go tell Tasuki and Renji.

...

...

"So they are heading to the lake, down west from here?"

He nodded.

"Okay, let's go Renji."

He rolled his eyes. "Go to do what?"

"Well make love fill the air, so that our two lovebirds can acknowledge their feelings." She smiled.

Mizuiro frown in disgust. "Whoooa this cheesy sentence doesn't suit you at all, Arizawa…."

"I know, I don't like it either… But sometimes I like to try to be like usual cheesy girls… Guess it doesn't work with me." She sighed. "Okay, translation! We're gonna make these stupid clueless asses admit their sickening cheesy feelings! Is that better?"

Mizuiro sighed in relief. "Yeah, much better, thank you…"

"You're welcome!"

Renji sighed. "Should we go know? The faster we get there, the faster we can finish this crap.."

"Sure" She went forward and he followed her.

Mizuiro waved her goodbye. He was going to catch up with all of them to the lake when something, or rather someone caught his attention.

...

...

"Sooooo… They were heading to the lake, is that right?" He asked frowning.

The merchant nodded.

"And where would be this beautiful lake?" She asked in her sweet voice.

"Well, from here, you just have to go straight to the west."

"Oh thank you!" She happily shook his hands.

Ichigo and Rukia moved away from the window display.

"Can't he just stay in the same place, while we are looking after him? Stupid annoying prince!" He was exasperated.

"Ooooh, cool down, at least we know where Orihime is, even if it's not really a good news…"

"I don't care about this crap! I just want to find them, execute whatever we have planned, and go back home!"

"If you want so bad to go home, then put more energy in walking instead of complaining!"

The couple went past Mizuiro without seeing him, well, he was in a channel after all.

Mizuiro watch them walking loudly away from him. So they were here for Orihime too. He smiled. This will be interesting. Very interesting.

...

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**Thanks for reading it, hope you like it^^**

**There was no ishihime scene at first but then I decided to add at least one, and it turned well I guess^^**

**Luv' Tatsuki XD**

**Next week: the famous "Kiss the girl" scene^^**

**Please Review "**


	7. Kiss the girl without getting hit

**7 Kiss the girl (without getting hit)**

**...**

**...**

**...**

They quietly arrived to the lake. A small boat was moored. He offered his hand to her. She gladly accepted it blushing. He got into the boat and help her getting in. "Be careful, it pitches and rolls a little."

They both were in the boat now.

...

...

"What do you see?"

She brought the binoculars to her eyes and looked through them. They had climbed on a branch of a tree near the shore where they could have a full view of the lake. "Hmmmm…Let's see…" She quickly scanned the area in one look. "Oh! Targets locked! The targets are both in the boat. Nerdy has taken the oars. They are sailing away from the bank. Nothing's happening. They must be more active…They need help there, I repeat, they need help there." She said in a military tone, putting her fist in front of her mouth mimicking a talkie walkie.

Renji raised an eyebrow. "I think you're enjoying this too much, this isn't a game you know, I thought you cared about her!"

Tatsuki pouted. "I care about her!…But I thought you found this annoying so I'm trying to make it funnier! All these efforts just for you, nooo, you don't have to thank me" She said, taping his shoulder.

He rolled his eyes.

"So… " She locked her eyes with his, looking inquiringly at him. "What should we do now?"

He blinked. "What do you mean what should we do? I dunno! Think about it! I don't really care 'bout what will happen to her, you know!" He shouted aloud.

She looked at him mischievously. "Oh, I get to choose!Well…If you insist… Have you brought your guitar?"

"Well of course! I mean you know it can shrink…" He paused and frowned. "What… You don't want me to…No, no, no, nooooo!" He shouted shaking his head and wildly waved his hands

She grinned. "Yeeeeeesss!"

"No!"

"Come on, please!" She put on her puppy eyes.

He glared at her and sighed. "Guess I have no choice." He took a shell out from his pocket and it suddenly turned into an acoustic guitar. She smiled. "What do you want me to sing?"

She looked surprised. "Dunno…A romantic song…Surprise me!".

The sound of a guitar began to fill the air. Soon, a man's voice, deep and penetrating, slightly hoarse came to accompany the simple but breathtaking melody.

_There you see her_

_Sitting there across the way_

_She don't got a lot to say_

_But there's something about her_

_And you don't know why_

_But you're dying to try_

_You wanna kiss the girl_

Ishida and Orihime looked at each other, wondering from where this sound came from.

"Well… At least it is well sang…and goes well with the atmosphere." He blushed slightly. "Err… Unless, it's bothering you…"

She quickly shook her head, blushing. "Well, that's good…" He smiled.

They both stayed silent, wanting to enjoy the music.

He slowly took her hand. She turned her head away not wanting him to saw her red face. He caressed her hand. She finally looked at him. They locked their gaze to each other. He began to lean toward her, aiming for her lips.

_Yes, you want her_

_Look at her, you know you do_

_Possible she wants you too_

_There is one way to ask her_

_It don't take a word_

_Not a single word_

_Go on and kiss the girl_

Ichigo and Rukia were both panting from the sprint they have done to arrive there. They quickly hided into a bush.

"Where…are…Where are they?" She took a quick look at the place, frowning, and panting.

He put his hands behind his head with a "I-don't-care" attitude. "Dunno…well at least, there's some good music…". He said straining his ears.

"Gaaaaaah!"

"Huh? What happened? What happened?" He looked at her with a worried look on his face.

"They are going to…kiiiiiiss!" She hissed.

He blinked. "Wh.."

She grabbed his hand not letting him speak and led him forward. "Come on, we must stop them!"

_Sha la la la la la_

_My oh my_

_Look like the boy too shy_

_Ain't gonna kiss the girl_

_Sha la la la la la_

_Ain't that sad?_

_Ain't it a shame?_

_Too bad, he gonna miss the girl_

Tatsuki leaned on his shoulder and smiled. "You sing pretty well you know…"

Renji huffed, blushed and proceeded to sing.

She listening to his voice, humming lowly the melody, and got her attention back to the boat. "Oh! Some action there! don't stop singing by the way…" He rolled his eyes. "Oh!." She widened her eyes. "Oh! They're gonna kiss!"

_Now's your moment_

_Floating in a blue lagoon_

_Boy you better do it soon_

_No time will be better_

_She don't say a word_

_And she won't say a word_

_Until you kiss the girl_

Rukia begun throwing pebbles she found on the ground.

Ichigo glared at her. "Are you fuckin' kidding me?"

She turned to glared at him. "What are you doing? Help me shooting them."

He rolled his eyes.

_Sha la la la la la_

_Don't be scared_

_You got the mood prepared_

_Go on and kiss the girl_

_Sha la la la la la_

_Don't stop now_

_Don't try to hide it how_

_You want to kiss the girl_

_Sha la la la la la_

_Float along_

_And listen to the song_

_The song say kiss the girl_

_Sha la la la la_

_The music play_

_Do what the music say_

_You got to kiss the girl_

_You've got to kiss the girl_

_You wanna kiss the girl_

_You've gotta kiss the girl_

_Go on and kiss the girl_

They were about to kiss when Orihime heard a sound of something hitting the water. She turned her head to where the sound seemed to come from. Ishida looked away, embarrassed by his previous action. The music had also stopped.

...

...

Renji saw her frowning. "What's going on?"

Tatsuki took off the binoculars. "I dunno…They stopped and… it's raining pebbles…"

He rolled his eyes. She handed the binoculars to him, offering him to take a look to see she was telling the truth. He took them and looked through it. "Holy shit! It's really raining pebbles!" He took the binoculars off to look at her. "How is it even possible?"

She blinked several times. "Are you kidding me?" She raised her eyebrow.

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes. "Do you really think it's raining pebbles?"

"Well, you have another explanation?"

She bursted out laughing. "Well, obviously someone is throwing them! You really are a dumbass you know?"

He glared.

...

...

"So what are you waiting for?"

"I don't wanna shoot them!" Ichigo shouted.

Rukia rolled her eyes. "Come on, I know you're bad for aiming, but at least try to shoot one of them!"

"I don't wanna shoot them!" He repeated sternly and added grinding his teeth. "And I can perfectly hit them if I wanted to!"

She smiled mischievously. "Oh, I see… His Majesty the king of Strawberries is afraid to loose against me. Well, I understand, you know, it's normal to back off after seeing my skills."

He was fuming. "What have you said? ME, afraid to loose against YOU?" He huffed "You've got to be kidding me!" He grabbed a handful of pebbles and glared at her. "First to hit one of them wins! Don't you dare back off, midget!"

She grinned. "Back off? In your dreams! Don't take me easy, else you'll regret it, strawberry!"

They started a short glaring contest and turned their head at the same time, focusing on the real contest.

"Okay…I count to 3…" He said, his voice being low. "1…"

"3!" She shouted and they proceeded to throw handful of peebles.

...

What was a small rain of peebles turned into a real downpour of peebles. The romantic and peaceful lake became a place of war. They were both trying hard to dodge every single pebble and they were doing well until one of them hit Ishida right in the middle of his face. He fainted in Orihime's arms.

"Hah! See, I won! Serves you right! And what you've done earlier was cheating! you cheated and yet, I still won!"

Rukia glared to him, mumbling some inaudible insults.

Ichigo smiled. "Don't get mad at me, I beat you fair! And at least, we stopped their kiss!"

She nodded.

"Well, now can we go home, I'm tired as hell!"

"No."

He frowned. "No?"

She closed her eyes. "We haven't finished yet, we are going to stay until the third day."

He gaped. "What? But why?" He deeply frowned, I was getting fed up with all this bet…

...

...

They saw Orihime carrying Ishida with difficulty and heading to the castle. They both blinked several times and looked at each other.

"What was that?"

"Dunno."

"Shouldn't we help her?"

Tatsuki shook her head. "No need, I know her, she can take care of herself for now."

"Aren't you mad they didn't kiss?"

"Not really, it will happen soon anyway…no need to rush. But I think someone is trying to break them apart…We have to find who it is."

Renji sighed. "As if we didn't have enough problems…" He felt her eyes locked on him. He raised an eyebrow. "Something's wrong?"

She looked at him intensely. "Can you sing again?"

He frowned. "Ishida is a prince, not a princess you know, he's not gonna suddenly wake up if someone sings a song…" He told her sarcastically.

He expected her to hit him, he expected her to answer sarcastically, he expected her to be mad, but she did none of these. Instead, she leaned her head on his shoulder gazing absently and finally closed her eyes, smiling peacefully. "Just for me…I wanna hear a song again." She said in a last whisper.

...

...

* * *

**Thanks for reading, Hope you like it^^**

**Thanks for the review^^**

**I just realize that there wasn't really any Ishihime moments in this one...Hope you don't mind... v_v**

**But...Lot of Tatsuren and...Ichiruki... 3**

**From next chapter, they gonna meet each other^^, new friends and old friends...**

**Please review **


	8. With a little help from my friends

**8 With a little help from my friends**

Orihime was in he room, looking at the sea on her small balcony. She was thinking about earlier, the tour, the lake, the lake, the song, all this romantic atmosphere…and him. Of course everything suddenly ended up but she didn't mind. All she had done today was more than she had ever wished and it was kind of funny how she carried Ishida to the carriage, meeting with Keigo and how they went back to the castle. All the castle was awfully worried as they saw their dear prince unconscious, but it wasn't a deep wound so they enquired her to go back to rest as they were dealing about the prince. She was sad she couldn't stay with a little longer, but she was a stranger after all, couldn't impose her presence like that. She went back into her room, leaning on the hue bed. She stared at the ceiling, thinking about him, about what the future held. She didn't care…The present was more than enough. She slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Ishida opened his eyes. He looked around to see he was actually in his room. Weird, last thing he recalled was sitting in the boat, looking at the most mesmerizing woman he had ever seen. And he was about to kiss her until…yeah….the pebbles part was weird… But he didn't want to think about that right now. All he wanted was thinking about her, and only her. Damn, he was in love…with a total stranger…he who is the prince…Trouble are coming for him…He thought as he fell asleep again.

...

...

She remained silent.

"Shall I repeat myself? Why do you want to ruin this bet so bad?"

She still didn't say a word.

Ichigo frowned. It wasn't like her. Of course he was sick of all this mess and wanted to go home, their home, but she wanted to stay and it worried him. Not that it annoyed him just that she usually didn't get involved in her bet: time went by and she'd just win cause she only bet if she's sure to win. She wouldn't get that far just to win…He frowned looking her.

"So?" His eyes were enquiring.

She avoided his gaze, shifting hers aside. "Why do you want to know? Can't we just go on, it's just 2 days from now." She said in a weak voice.

He frowned: he didn't understand her. What was the deal with this bet? Why did she wanted to win so bad? The Chappy plush was really expensive, they couldn't afford it, but still… All these stuffs for a stupid rabbit plushie? No way…. There was something else, something he could't point out and whom he was dying to find out. What if…It was Ishida? Maybe she loved him… He frowned at the thought and pushed it out of his mind straightway, seeing it was going somewhere that annoyed him hard.

She was looking at him expectingly. He melted his eyes into hers. "Well… If it's only 2 days, I don't mind." He finally said quietly.

"Thank you". She whispered with a small smile.

"But promise me…" He cupped her face in his hands, lifted her head so he could see her wonderful eyes. "Promise me it will be over in 2 days and we're going to go back home right after."

She genuinely smile, liking the feeling if his hands on her cheeks. She closed her eyes. "Don't worry…I promise"

He let go of her and turned around blushing. "…That's good…"

...

...

He lightly shook her arms. He was enjoying her touch, how she was resting on his shoulder, he just wanted time to stop but well, they were still in a tree after all. She was still sleeping, you could still a small snore coming from her if you listened hard. He smiled, he couldn't believe he was the one who was gonna break this peaceful moment. He gently passed a hand through her hair. "Hey…come on, wake up now." He gently whispered.

Tatsuki lazily opened her eyes, her mind was still dreaming. "Where are-"

"Still on the tree" He cut her off. "come on, we have to go bak to the castle to find a place to sleep. Unless you wanna sleep out in the open. Not that I mind but you…" He looked back to her. "you're royalty after all." She glared at him. He smirked, he knew the it pissed her off to be remind that she was royalty.

"Actually I don't mind." He mouthed a oh. "But as painful as it is to say it, you're right, let's head to the castle…we must watch her single move to back her off. Even more now that we know that someone isn't happy to see them together…"

...

...

They managed to sneak into the castle again. He found the maid from earlier, and deeply apologize for Rukia's behavior. She didn't mind but still couldn't look in the eyes of the said girl: she was still afraid of her. She leaded them to a small empty room, right next to the kitchen. It was small she said but the prince and other official never went down there. He thanked her and apologized to her again making Rukia rolling her eyes.

Rukia was peacefully sleeping, curved into her bed sheet. Yeah, the maid provided them bed sheet. She was really a helpful one. He had to thank her again when he would see her. He stared at her and smile. She was beautiful. He lightly kissed her cheek and went out. He wanted to walk, see around a little, enjoy the small breeze on his face. He didn't have the chance to be human everyday. He looked to the sky, founding it beautiful.

...

...

They were in a small shed outdoor. They managed to find a place between the large collection of tools. He was sleeping, she wasn't. Well you can't blame her, she rested earlier when she fell asleep on Renji's shoulder. She was blankly staring at the ceiling. She rolled over a few times, the idiot next to her began to snore loudly. She finally stood up and went out of the shed.

She was walking in the garden, looking to the ground. Then, wanting to look to the sky, she stopped and she lifted her head up. Her eyes widened. "Ich….Ichigo?"

Hearing someone calling up his name, he snapped out from his thought to look to whoever was calling him. He was breath taken. "Tatsuki?"

She grinned. "Glad to see you haven't change at all strawberry! Well except the lower part of your body" She chuckled.

He smiled. "You would beat the hell out of me if I ever change…" He chuckled. "And you're the one to talk…you still remain the same…and had the same "physical" change as me"

She smiled. "Yeah…" They both stayed silent for a while They sat down on the grass, both staring at the sky.

"Whoa…It's been a while…" She whispered.

"Not this long…A dozen of years I would say…" She chuckled. "I missed you…"He whispered looking down.

"Yeah…But I missed you more than you did…"

He lifted his eyebrow. "What's that? I'm the caring figure here!"

She burst out of laugh. "With you permanent scowl? No way!"

"Sorry, they didn't teach me how to smile back then…" He scowled.

They locked their gaze into each other's. "It's good to see you again…" She said lowly.

"I didn't realize how fast the time flew by…"

"How is she doing?"

He frowned. "Who?"

"Rukia."

"Oh, she's doing…well I guess…I mean as I'm living with her… how can she not be happy?" He joked expecting it was true though.

She raised her eyebrow. "I see you got a lot cockier since I've seen you… You were the coward one in the group after all…."

"Thanks to remind me these glorious memories…" He scowled.

She smiled. "You're welcome."

"And how is he?"

She lifted her eyebrow.

"Renji!"

"Oh… He's being well too…He's always around me anyway..."

"Still clinging on him I see… Well don't worry, you look good together."

She blushed. "Idiot, it's not like that. He's my body guard."

He mouthed a oh.

"You know you, he missed you a lot…he was thinking of you as a brother…"

He looked down. "Yeah I know….I feel exactly the same. I miss him a lot too…"

"He has not forgiven her you know. He despise her and hate her with all his guts…" she said in a low voice, gazing to the sky.

He stay silent. "And what about you?" He said to break the heavy silence.

"What do you mean, what about me?"

"What do you feel about her?"

She smiled, a glint of mischief in her eyes, and leaned toward him whispering hoarsely. "Well, you know I've always been attracted by little Rukia-chan… I've always dreamt of doing some…things to her and her marvelous body."

He blushed hard. "St…stop joking…'kay! Wait, you're, you're joking, right?"

She bursted out of laugh. "Your reaction is priceless! You even believed me, you prude virgin! Come on, and you just asked about Renji!"

He looked away to hide his face reddened from shame. "And seriously?"

She stopped laughing and smiled gently, looking to the sky. "Seriously, I don't blame her at all. I know she makes you happy and I know that you did it on purpose." She sighed.

He frowned. "What did I do on purpose?"

"You lost against her."

He scowled. "How did you figure it out?"

She chuckled. "Come on Ichigo, I'm your first childhood friend and your best friend, and I'm not totally dense like a certain red haired one."

He scowled deeper. He didn't like knowing that people could read in him like an open book.

"Besides, you were the best chess player I've ever seen… You couldn't possibly loose… Even if I don't know a single thing about how Rukia plays chess, I can't even imagine you loosing..."

He chuckled. "Well, knowing 'bout her skills wouldn't change anything… She sucks at it."

"And I saw it." He looked at her quizzically. "I've seen you two together only once, but I've seen how you looked at her… So I understand… I understand the way you acted."

"Thanks…" He whispered.

They stayed like this, staring at the sky, gazing at the stars. They didn't want to make up the wasted time. Being together like that was enough. They were best friends the didn't need to talk to share what they thought, how they felt.

* * *

**Sorry for the VERY late update guys but I was kind of in a rush before, during and after the holidays... Couldn't find time to update.**

**Well This is a pretty short chapter anyway.**

**Hope you like it^^ and please please review^^**


	9. Hell's Kitchen

Okay, this chapter is totally random, I didn't plan to write it, it just came when I tried to continue the story... XD

* * *

**9-Hell's Kitchen**

Someone knocked at the door. She woke up early, not wanting to miss a single chance to be with him. She was on the balcony again, breathing the fresh morning air. She turned and went to the door to see who was there. The petite maid stopped, blushing, apologizing for her rudeness. Orihime smiled. She moved her hands to comfort the maid and gestured her to come in.

The maid shook her head quickly. "Oh, I wouldn't dare, besides, I still have some chores to do."

"Yes you do, so you should quickly return to them." A voice sharply said.

The maid let a surprised gasp out. She deeply bowed. "All my apologies, Nanao-sama." She said before hastily go away.

The severe woman turned to Orihime and said sternly as she adjusted her glasses. "Good morning miss, my name is Ise Nanao, the house mother of the whole castle. His highness, Prince Ishida, sent me to tell you he will be out the entire morning but will have lunch with you. He also said that you if you wanted, you could go to the library to entertain. Do you want me to show you the way?"

She shook her head.

"Do you want to do something else? Visit another part of the castle?"

Orihime quickly went to the desk to grab the sketch and a pen. She wrote "I would love to visit the kitchen!" She showed the sketch to the maid smiling.

"I'll show you the way to the kitchen." She bowed and enquired the guest to follow her.

...

...

She yawned and stretched lazily sitting up. She looked besides her and saw him sleeping, his arm embracing her waist. She smiled at his touch. Some things never changed. She started to shake him lightly to wake him up. He groaned and turned to bury his head into her lap. She rolled her eyes and smashed him on the head. He let out a cry of pain and sat up to glared at her.

"Oh! you're soooo sleepy my dear strawberry, why is that? The sun is high, it's grand time to wake up!" She announced cheerfully with the sweet voice he hated so much.

He intensified his glare, but seeing her looking at him with innocent eyes, he sighed and decided to let it go. He leaned back, putting the sheet back on him. "Please..a few minutes more…" He mumbled as he closed his eyes.

Seeing he went back to bed ignoring her, she pouted and crossed her arms. "Ichigoooo" She whined.

"Hmmm…."

"Ne, Ichigo…"

No response.

She took his head in her hands to turn it toward her face. "Ichigo…" She said gravely, her eyebrows frowned.

His eyes snapped open. He frowned. "What now?"

"I wanna eat breakfast…"

He sighed. God, she was damn annoying. He was preparing to stand up while his mind was going in an intense reflexion. 'Why do I have to do whatever she say? But she's so cute… Damn, I'm really whipped. The thing is…I can't resist to her wonderful eyes. Fuck..screw that… to her eyes. I mustn't give up. Be firm Ichigo, firm and intransigent. It's your fault if she acts like a spoiled brat after all…Fuck, stop looking at me like that.. I won't give up, I know I can do it, I won't give up! Fuck, you wanna play this game, fine!"

He frowned. "Rukia, I'm really tired right now, can't you make your own breakfast by yourself?"

"Yeah but it tastes better when you're making it!" She pleaded.

He smirked. Two reasons: first, she totally fell for it, second, although he would never admit it, he was glad she prefers HIS breakfast. "Ooooh, so you admitted that's I'm better than you?"

Her face flushed. "Wh..What? Noooo!"

He leaned toward her grinning. "But you said the dishes I make are better than yours!"

She pushed him away. "I don't think you heard it well… I don't need your help, it was just a pretext to..."

His smile grew wider as he watched her fluttering. "A pretext to…"

"A pretext to wake you up! Stupid sleepy strawberry!" She shouted frantically as she stormed out there, he followed her smirking.

...

...

They directly arrived in the kitchen, but it wasn't near anything like they had seen last night. The kitchen was busy, filled with countless of cooks, chiefs, second chiefs, apprentice. They both widened their eyes, amazed by the plus it smelled so good!

"Hey! The midget and he carrot top!"

They both turned to glare at whoever was daring calling them with those stupid nicknames. First using nicknames was so old fashioned (even though they did it all the time), second, come on, the guy could do better than that, those nicknames, what a lack of originality!

"Are you deaf? I'm talking to you morons! Who are you and what are you doing here? Are you the new apprentices? God, why do I always have to train dumbass? Hey! not only deaf, you're also dumb? Christ, where did you find these stupid apprentices?"

They remained silent, both dumbstruck.

The imposing man approached them. "So, what are you cook apprentices? If you're not, you'd better run far away before I get you and crush your head 'til even your mother wouldn't be able to recognize you! I didn't hear anything, are you my apprentices or not?"

They both sweat dropping. Rukia finally managed to stutter. "H…hai..."

"So why aren't you working you dumbass! Zaraki Kenpachi doesn't train any weaklings! Hurry up! I want you to work 'til you've got blister on your hands!"

"Hai!"

"Now say! Who are you?" He shouted.

Both blinked quizzically. "Errrr….Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"Kuchiki Rukia…"

"No you dumbass! Seriously, who has chosen these two fools?" They both frowned. They hadn't understood a single part of the events since the man began to talk to us. Well, they didn't have time to think either since he was continuously yelling at them. "You are Zaraki Kenpachi's apprentice! You are proud of it and you hate weaklings! Now, what do you hate?"

"Chappy!" He shouted which owed him a death glare from her.

"Errrr… Don't know…peanut butter?"

Now Zaraki was beyond frightening. "Who gave me those assholes? I've just said it! You hate weaklings! Repeat after me, you hate weakling!"

"We hate weaklings!"

"You hate weaklings!"

Ichigo nudged her. "Why did you said "you"?"

"He said repeat after me so I repeated!"

"Yeah but there's dumbly repeating, that's you! And cleverly repeating, that's me!"

They immediately started a staring contest.

"Oi, au, calm down, I love fights, but we are pretty late for the lunch service, so we'd better hurry up!"

"You wouldn't be late if you weren't bothering us…."Ichigo mumbled.

"What did you say?"

He straightened, sweat dropping. "N…Nothing…"

"Great, last question… What do you love?"

"Let's not fail this one…" Rukia muttered.

"Hey, I think I got the trick!" She looked at him frowning. "I love our dear chief, Zaraki Kenpachi!" He exclaimed.

The room went silent. He grinned. Suddenly, a frying pan hit successively both of their head.

"Ouch! That hurts!" He shouted rubbing the top of his head.

"Why am I hit? I didn't say anything?" She clenched her fists.

"I better hurts! Plus, it's not like I've damaged anything there, I bet you don't have any brain under your thick skulls! Seriously, you love me, what do you think? that I'm gay, or something?" He turned to the stoves where the other cooks were working. "Guys! What do you love?" He exclaimed.

"Cooking!" They all shouted in unison.

He turned back to them. "I didn't hear you! What do you love?"

They both glared at him and muttered. "Cooking…"

"Great, so what are you waiting for! go back to cook!"

...

...

They were cutting some vegetables, brooding. Two cooks went to the stove next to them talking about them as if they weren't there.

"Oh, look, that's the two newbies!"

"Heard they totally failed at shouting the boost earlier…so un-beautiful…"

"Yeah, seriously, we'd better stay overwhelmed by the orders than employed weaklings like that!"

They both left. Ichigo were gritting his teeth and begun to cut violently the poor cucumber.

Rukia sighed. "Why do we have to work here…"

He glared at her. "I beg your pardon? The question would be why you fucking said that we were the new apprentice?" He shouted

She put her knife down and turned to face him. "What? You're blaming me? Well, maybe you preferred being disembowel by this crazy chief!" She yelled.

The room went silent (again), everyone was looking at them. Then suddenly, everyone cheered. "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other disbelievingly. They shared their thoughts in one look. 'These people are far beyond insanity…'

The crowd shut up when someone entered the kitchen and returned to their activities. Rukia and Ichigo's eyes widened, both thinking 'Why now?'

...

...

"What now? Don't you see we are busy? Aren't you satisfied to go all over the castle sweeping around bothering everyone, you also have to come here annoying me?" Kenpachi yelled.

The stern woman, not even intimidated, said. "My apologies, but she is" She showed the ginger head female behind her. "His majesty's special guest. He clearly ordered me to take her wherever she wanted to go, which includes the kitchen."Kenpachi huffed. "In such a case, your du is to fulfill his majesty's wish and receive this lady in your modest…kitchen." She added with a disgusted look.

Kenpachi mumbled "Whatever…" He turned to Orihime. "Fine, you can do whatever you want, as long as you don't disturb me, nor my cooks!" She smiled cheerfully.

"That's much better!" Nanao stiffly said.

Orihime proceeded to take a look at the kitchen and what people were making. She had always loved cooking, she even created her own recipes! Seeing all these cooks, busy and happy to do their works was filling her with joy.

...

...

They were crouching behind a counter. "So now what's the plan? I'm being sick of improvisation!" He whispered.

"I already saved the day last time, now that's your turn!"

"What? It doesn't work like that you know! Crap, she's heading this way!" He grabbed her arm. "Come on, time to move!"

As they were crawling away, Orihime turned her eh to them.

"Shit, I think she had seen us!" The raven haired said.

"She's not saying anything, let's go! You're going to get us noticed!"

A vein popped out of her head. "Well, I think your stupid hair is going to get us noticed!" She harshly answered.

They were keeping bickering until someone's shadow was on us. They both gulped.

"Some of us are having a good time there!" Kenpachi said with a huge grin.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head, laughing nervously. "Haha..huh… That's…that's not what you think sir…mister, chief?" Kenpachi sighed in annoyance. "We were…eeerrrr…..picking up the….peas…" He overthrow the peas bowl with his other hand. "which have accidentally fallen down…hahaaa….Aren't she clumsy, sir… mister… chief?" He said with an awkward smile as he patted on Rukia's head who was glaring at him.

Kenpachi bent down to pick up the bowl and throw him at Ichigo who warded off. Everyone stopped whatever they were doing to look at the chief and the newbie. Silence filled the room. Ichigo was sending worried looks to Rukia who were looking down, trying to hide her face.

The silence was broken by Orihime who was totally unaware of the previous event and totally clueless to the two new apprentice who looked quite familiar. Well….it was actually broken by the cook next to her. "What! What did you do, you added chocolate syrup in my soup?" And everyone focused on the said stove.

Kenpachi grinned, seeing Ichigo looking at him defiantly. "I like you boy! Train hard and you'll become a great cooking master! Hell, I think Yachiru will adore you!" And he turned and walked away.

Ichigo blinked a several times. "Wait? who is Yachiru."

A bald head answered him. "I swear, you'd better not know…"

...

...

Orihime returned shamefully next to the door.

"Well, Chief Kenpachi, I think we have done with the kitchen." Nanao said emotionlessly, readjusting her glasses.

Kenpachi glares at her and muttered. "I think you have more than done with the kitchen..."

She ignored his comment and continued. "One last thing, His highness has clearly stated that he wanted fish for lunch, your best dishes, since he's receiving guest. Don't disappoint him."

And they left. Kenpachi turned to face the room and said loudly while scratching his back. "WHAT-A-PAIN-IN-THE-ASS! Okay everyone heard the uptight bitch? Fish for midday!"

Everyone cheered. And a few went to the stock and came back with a few fish baskets and put them near Ichigo and Rukia. "Hey, the newbies, start to clean and fillet the fishes while we take care of the condiments!"

Rukia grabbed a fish and started to wash it while Ichigo was glaring the basket. "Is there a problem?" No answer. "Ichigo?"

"They are eating…fish…"

"And what's the problem?"

"That's disgusting!" He blurted out.

She rolled her eyes. "They are humans Ichigo, they have to feed themselves. And I don't understand why you're so offended… You're half a shark after all…You also eat fish."

He ignored her last comment and grabbed a fish and put it right in front of her eyes. "But Rukia… Look at him! Poor little Nemo who has lost his father! Don't you see he was snatched from the ocean and died in enormous suffering?"

She blinked at the stupid face of fish in front of her. First, it was beyond ugly, second, it stank awfully. She shoved it away with one hand, the other holding her nose. "Don't be ridiculous and hurry up cle-"

She was interrupted by some guys who put other baskets but this time, they were filled with squid and octopus. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. "What…what is that?" She asked the cook who was there.

"Well, some squid and octopus… You know when the prince orders fish, he actually want every kind of beings in the ocean! Even the mermaids!" He said laughing.

They both glared at him as he was leaving. "That was a laaaaame joke…"

She nodded. "The lamest one I've ever heard…" She turned to him. "What are we going to do? We can't cook them it's like…cannibalism!"

He rolled his eyes "What did I tell you before?"

They turned to see one cook taking a squid and cutting his head. "It's a massacre!" She grabbed his apron. "I don't feel well…I think I'm going to throw away…"

"Hey! Don't grab me if you're gonna puke!" He switched place with her so she could face the sink. "Here…calm down… Don't worry…I have a plan…"

* * *

Hope you like it^^

Ichiruki FTW! =D

Please, make my day and review...


	10. Have a nice lunch!

Thanks for the review WammyBoysFTW ^^ And yeah, Ichigo is part shark, cause it's sooo classy... XD

* * *

**10 Have a nice lunch!**

**...**

**...**

"What do you mean all the fishes disappeared?" A very very angry Kenpachi yelled.

The small cook were sweating heavily. "Th..that's the truth, nothing is left! I checked the dustbins, the garden the stables! anywhere, the fishes have just disappeared!"

"Any other seafood?"

"N…No, chief, no seafood at all…."

Whispers filled the room. The cooking team was in a really bad off. A lunch to serve in 2 hours and the main ingredient was missing.

"Let's cook meat." He simply said

Everyone turned to looked at the orange haired man who had just talked. Kenpachi eyed him. "What's your point?"

Ichigo crossed his arms behind his head. "Well, we don't have fish anymore, so let's prepare some meat! If we make a very tasteful dish, he can't really blame us. And what is this obsession with fish? He should try, taste other things, and it's our DUTY to make him discover new flavor! So who's with me?" He shouted enthusiastically. Silence. 'Great… I totally failed…' He thought, sweat dropping.

Kenpachi grinned. "You're right! I'm really taking a liking to you kids. Everyone, get ready, at noon, it will be boeuf rossini!" He shouted, giving Ichigo an affectionate punch which nearly made Ichigo passing out.

...

...

"Uryuuuuuu!"

He rolled his eyes as he saw a goofy Keigo happily gamboling toward him.

"I missed you this morning! Hey, next time you go check something in town, tell me, I love going with you to brighten your day!"

He sighed. "Good for you, unfortunately, I DON'T like you "brightening" my day, but thank you for the suggestion." He said sarcastically. "And I didn't tell you what I was doing today 'cause I thought it was your first day as a cook apprentice…"

"Yeah it was… But when I woke up, I felt more like going with you!" Ishida rolled his eyes. "And can you keep a secret?" Keigo said lowering his voice.

Ishida glared at him. "Whatever…"

"I'm…not interested in cooking at all!"

Ishida sighed. "You should get a life…"

"I HAVE a life!"

"Which sounds very interesting, really. "Ishida said smirking, as he went away from Keigo.

"Yeah, I know." Keigo said with pride. He turned his head to see his friend wasn't even listening to him. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Lunch!"

"Cool! Wait for me."

Ishida stopped and turned around to look at his friend. "I don't want you for lunch." He told him sternly.

"Hahahaaaa, nice job, I never thought you were so humorous, nice joke Uryuu but I don't go for it, you should search harder." He mocked, as he passed Ishida.

Ishida grabbed Keigo's shoulder immediately, stopping him. "Keigo, I was serious, I don't want you at my table this noon!"

Keigo's eyes watered. "B..But…WHY? I'm always gladly invited at your lunches!"

He lifted his glasses. "The correct sentence is you are always allowed to impose yourself at my lunches." He sighed. "Keigo, please, leave me alone for once…"

Keigo burst in tears and hugged Ishida. "Uryuuuu, what happened to our friendship, you don't like me anymore?"

A vein popped out of his head. "I tried to tell you gently, but since you didn't understand, fine! Guards! Take care of Asano, he's pissing me off!"

A bunch of guards arrived and grabbed Keigo to separate him from Ishida. "What do you want us to do with him?"

"I don't care, just make sure he doesn't bother me until tomorrow."

The guards saluted him, and Ishida walked away as they took a whining and crying Keigo away.

...

...

The dining room was in the corner of the castle. The room was high-ceilinged and the walls adjoining the outdoor were made by glass, a well as the ceiling, so you could enjoy the beautiful view of the ocean.

As Ishida arrived in the dining room he saw Nanao and Orihime. He smiled. "You are right on time for lunch!" He exclaimed. "Did everything go well?" He asked Orihime.

"Perfectly, your Highness!" Nanao answered.

"I'm glad to hear it! Tell the chief he can begin to serve us!" Nanao nodded and left, and he turned to Orihime, leading her to the table. "Come in, have a seat." He helped her sitting down and show her the view in front of her. "Nice view, isn't it, I moved the dining room there cause I love the watching the ocean." She smiled and looked at him. He blushed and, realizing their closeness, he straighted up and went to his sit. "I ordered a seafood menu, it's the speciality of my kingdom, I hope you'll like it!"

...

...

They woke up in the late morning. She couldn't stop thinking about last night,should she tell him or not? A voice interrupted her thoughts.

"So what are we doing today?"

She blinked a few times. "Huh? are you talking to me?"

Renji rolled his eyes. "No, to the bush behind you! Who do you want me to speak to? There are only the 2 of us!"

"Yeah, you're right!" She beamed.

He frowned. "You're weird…"

"Hey, don't call me weird! Just tell me what you were asking for before!"

"You're definitely weird AND swinging moods today…" He muttered. "I asked you what you planed for today?Do we keep helping Orihime or are we looking for those who wanna break them?"

"Oh, right, we have enemies, I totally forgot 'bout them!"

"Or perhaps, we should just rest today…you seem a bit off…" He muttered as he eyed her suspiciously. Something hit his head hard.

"Me, a bit off? I'm never off! See, I already know what we are doing today!" She yelled angrily.

"Which is?…."

"I trust Orihime for flirting with the guy, he's already head over heels in love with her anyway. Our first priority is to take down those bastards!"

"Yeah! Some action! Finally!"

"Hold on! We have to find them first."

He frowned. "And how?"

"Following Orihime." She simply stated.

He sighed.

"Don't complain, if they want to cause her difficulties, they must be near her!"

"Hey, I didn't complained!" He snapped.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Pineapple…"

They walked alongside the walls of the castle, searching for an opening where they could sneak in. She went back to her thoughts. 'Guess I won't tell him, think it will pain him more than help him… Anyway, if Ichigo is there, they will eventually meet, it's more fun to let him the surprise.' She smirked. 'Ichigo is there, that's good… Wait if Ichigo is there… Rukia's there too… It will be good to see her… Could she be the one who's annoying Orihime, she's the one who bet with her after all… No, she's not the one… Rukia is a fair one…'

...

...

"Here are your starters, Your highness, the chief choose the best vegetables of the kingdom to make a "salade printanière" accompanied by its toasted slide of bread and foie gras and fig jam. Please you enjoy this meal. Do not mind call me if you need anything. Bon appetit, your Highness" The head-waiter lowly bowed and went to the back.

"Thanks, Albert!" Ishida replied courteously. He turned to Orihime and smile. "Well, let's begin!"

They started to eat. Ishida told her about his morning, then his life. She loves every bit of it. He liked the way she respond to him just by her cheering smile. She was brightening his day. After finishing the starters, there was a pause. She looked up to look outside. Her eyes widened.

...

...

"Gaaaaw!"

A vein popped out of Tatsuki's head. "Stop shouting like that! Do you want every being of this kingdom to hear you squeezing like a little girl? And how many times do I have to remind you not to stay close to the window? We have to hide, hide! Not parading like a cocky male during the mating season!" She yelled as she gripped his collar to drag him behind a bush .

"I will not respond to that you, you filthy woman…" He muttered between his teeth. "Orihime is there!"

Her head popped out of the bush as she shouted. "Orihime? Where?"

He pulled her shirt to make her sit down. He rolled his eyes. "And you're the one who tell me to be more "unnoticeable"…" He moved some branches apart and pointed to the castle. "You see pan of wall made glasses?" She nodded. "She's inside, I saw her eating, I think."

"Right, it's noon! I'm staaaaarving!"

Silence.

He blinked. "Is that all you have to say? that you're starving?"

She glared. "But really I am…Anyway…Let's go…" She added standing up.

He looked at her growing silhouette muttering. "I'm tired of your constant swing of moods… Wait…Where are we going?"

She looked at him as if he was insane. "Telling her that we're here? Why else?"

He raised an eyebrow. "And how?"

"Well, we stand in front of the windows and we wave at her."

He huffed. "Ha! Nice joke! What's the real plan now?"

She gave him a baffled look. "What are you talking about? This IS the real plan!"

He blinked for at least 5 seconds. "Are you KIDDING me?I knew you always come up with shitty plans, but this….It is far beyond all I have ever imagined…" He thought

She grabbed him and drag him behind her as she walked toward the windows. "Come on, hurry up, I' hungry, so we'd better begin to deal with this now, don't forget we have to look for our lunch right after!"

They stood right in front of the windows and she started doing big signs with her arms, wondering if her friend had seen her yet, even if it was really difficult not to notice her. He just stood beside her, his arms crossed over his chest, rolling his eyes.

...

...

Orihime gaped at what she was seeing. Tatsuki, here, but why. She glanced at Ishida, thank god he hadn't seemed to notice her sudden change of behavior. As happy she was to be with him, she had to see why her best friend was there. Was she there to tell her to back off? She frowned at the thought. She had to cleared her mind.

She begun to write something on her sketch. Hearing the sound of the pencil scratching the paper, Ishida's eyes focused on Orihime. Not that he had forgotten about her being here, no , in fact he had been gazing in the space thinking, thinking of her. "Something's wrong?" She hold the sketch so he could read what was written on. "All my apologies, but I need to go to bathroom." He read out loud. "Well, sure…I'll wait for you."He added. She quickly bowed and made her way to the outside.

...

...

"Oh, she's leaving, I think she has seen me!" Tatsuki said eagerly.

"Great! Now let's hide, quick, before someone ELSE sees us!" He ordered, as he stepped away.

"Oh, yes, you're right" She caught up with him.

...

...

"I'm not going to serve that." The head-waiter sternly said. "His highness specifically required to have some fish for lunch, I'm to ashamed to serve him…that…" He added with disdain in his voice.

Kenpachi rolled his eyes. "Not only you have a shitty job but you also have a shitty brain…" The head-waiter shrugged. Seeing it, Kenpachi grinned. "Oh, sorry, I forgot you actually had none."

The head-waiter huffed. "Whatever you say Kenpachi… Don't rely on me to serve your shit this time."

"Like I've ever relied on you, scumbag." he said as the head-waiter was leaving. He scanned the room with his eyes. He stopped them on Ichigo and smirked. "You".

The said man shuddered and looked at the chief suspiciously. "Me…"

"Go and serve his 'highness'" He emphasized on the word highness.

"I don't know…the…Art of serving high rank people." He said sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest, thinking he got away from the task.

Kenpachi shoved him the plates. "Then learn!" He shouted. "Is there a better way of learning than learning directly on the front?" He added grinning.

Ichigo was taken back by his superior's reaction. He forcefully pushed the dishes back to his owner. "I won't do it." He said sternly, scowling.

"I don't think you have the choice, apprentice." Kenpachi put the plates full force on the counter which separated him from his subordinate making it shaking.

Ichigo was about to retort but was cut by a certain someone. "Fine chief, it's a great honor for us to fulfill this task." Rukia said bowing. She glanced at Ichigo who gave her a what-the-fuck look. She took one plate and began to walk away. "Get a move on Ichigo, we don't have all the day!" She barked. He reluctantly took the dish that left and followed her.

As soon as they were out he hissed. "Why did you do that? What if she sees us?"

She rolled her eyes. "Why not?" She told him bluntly. "What if she find about us, it's not like she can say anything, right?"

"Sure…but don't blame me if the mission fail…" He grunted.

"Did I ever blame you for doing something wrong?" She said sweetly, batting her eyelash. He rolled his eyes.

* * *

Thanks for reading, hope you liked it ^^

Yeah, Tasuki is a bit (a LOT) OOC, but I make her act like that cause she's with Renji (the girlfirend behave when she's with her boyfriend, even though Tatsuki would probably not be this type of girl...)

Next chapter, due in 2 weeks (I'm going to London! ) : **When Carrot top met Prince charming**

Please review!


	11. When Carrot top met Prince Charming

**11 When Carrot top met Prince charming.**

He was alone since Orihime went out. He couldn't help but thinking about her, she was haunting his mind all the day and all the night. He drew out of his reverie when he heard footsteps. He looked toward where the sound came from. He was surprised to not see his favorite head-waiter but a petty woman and an orange haired scowling man instead. He glared at them as they came closer, wondering why the usual crew wasn't there. Has he ever seen us around the castle? The petite woman ignored his glare and kept on walking gracefully, but the manned responded him by sending an even more deadly glare accompanied with his famous glare. Ishida already disposed him.

"The chief's main course." Rukia announced. "May you enjoy its delightful flavor."

Ishida stared at the plate which had been put in front of him for a few seconds. He turned to Ichigo and glared. "What is that?" He asked irritably.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. As soon as he laid his sight on him, it was done, Ichigo hated the man, he seemed so proud of himself, looking down on any other beings, not to mention, part of him thought Rukia was in love with the guy. "Isn't it obvious, that's a beef steack" He answered sarcastically.

"Don't take me lightly, overgrown carrot, I specifically asked for fish today!" He stated bluntly.

"And why is that, your teeth are so unhealthy, you can't even chew a bit of steak?" He smirked.

"Don't you dare make fun of me!" Ishida hissed.

Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest and bent down to be at eye's level to Ishida. He smirked. " Well, make me, you steady nerd."

A vein popped out of Ishida's head, but he choose to stay stead, his as from a superior rank after all. He breathed a few time to calm himself. "I won't" He finally said haughtily "Because I'm far above those things you, cavemen use to prove your delusional superiority." Ichigo scowled. "Anyway…" Ishida scoffed. "I think I ought not remind you that I'm for more that your superior, and that, as an inhabitant of this kingdom, you've entrust your poor mere peasant life to me, and as a compensation you swear to me loyalty, fidelity and obedience." He clearly emphasized the last word. Ichigo was about to retort but Rukia nudged him. "Now, may I ask you why I do not have the fish I ordered for lunch?" Ishida added as he lifted his glasses.

Ichigo rose his head and raised his voice "May I ask why you want to exterminate every beings living in the ocean?"

Ishida's look sent daggers to the man in front of him. "Care to answer my question?" He just stated bluntly.

"Please go on first, mine was more intelligent." Ichigo snickered as Ishida rolled his eyes.

'I want to get rid of this stupid mad man as soon as possible, I may as well do what he want as well…" Ishida thought while sighing. he locked his look with Ichigo's. "Believe me, I don't particularly hold a grudge against any living beings in the sea, I sincerely love the ocean actually. It's just that fishing is a pleasant activity and a mainstay in the economy. And you shouldn't worry, I also kill innocent calfs and lambs to nourish myself as well as my entire kingdom." He declared and chuckled a bit.

Ichigo hasn't even listened to the prince's little speech. It annoyed him the second it begun. He violently put down a sheet of paper.

Ishida jumped at the sudden jolt and glared at the orange haired responsible. "What is that?" He said dryly.

"Sign it!" Ichigo ordered.

"I don't wanna sign something I don't even know the content." He told him a matter-of-factly.

Ichigo raised his eyebrow and looked at Ishida mockingly. "Oh, and I thought you could read, guess, the nerdy look is just a show-off. Don't you know the geek trend is outdated since a long time…"

Ishida shuddered. "Really, I thought exactly the same about dying hair. Have you done playing around now, punk, and care to tell me about the deal you want me sign?" Ishida said back defiantly.

Ichigo scowled hard. "It's a promise 'bout not fishing ever again…well, a bunch of species, I wrote down in a list which is…" He streched his arm out to reach a fold piece of paper at the bottom of the page. "Here" As he said the word, the said piece of paper unrolled and was now much than 10 meters long.

Ishida glared at Ichigo. "did you really wrote back down every specie which lived in the ocean?"

Ichigo scratched the back of his head as he answered casually, looking innocently at the ceiling. "Well…Kind of…" He leaned over Ishida's shoulder to point another part of the sheet. "And I summed it up, and classified in these 4 categories I wrote there." He added proudly.

Ishida rolled his eyes only to refocussed immediately on the paper he was holding. "Let see…Fishes, marine mammals, marine mollusks, and mermaids." He paused, then his eyes widened in realization. "Mermaid?" He shouted loudly.

Ichigo nodded, eyes closed, arms folded on his chest. "Yup, mermaids."

Ishida glared at him. "Are you fucking kidding me?" He said hoarsely, failing to sound cool.

Ichigo sighed and sighed as he moved his fore arms in the air. "Well, of course I KNOW, you don't eat mermaids!" Ishida sighed in relief, at least the carrot top was a sane one. "But I still have to mention it, who knows, there's always an insane dumbass who will want to try and taste." or not…

Ishida blinked a few times: he couldn't believe his ears (nor his eyes by the way) "Do…do you… believe in…mermaids?" He finally managed to say.

Ichigo raised his eyebrow and said with a superior tone which was not to please the all and mighty prince. "Why wouldn't I? What do you think I am after all?"

Ishida was speechless. It wasn't even laughable. The poor guy was totally insane. He was psycho and he had no clue about his own disease. Ishida pitied him. How he arrived in the castle, Ishida had no idea, he probably sneaked out and no one noticed him. Well he looked like a normal guy after all, even himself had taken time to find out that his mind wasn't working very well… Ishida stood up. Ichigo, taken aback by the prince's sudden move, made a step back. Ishida put one of his hand on Ichigo's soulder and looked at him apologetically. Said man raised his eyebrow. "I'm sorry…I didn't know about…your disease." Ichigo frowned trying to understand this statement. Ishida went on. "Well..I know you're not even aware about it, but let me provide you a room, wandering randomly in town isn't safe for someone like you, even if you're a man" Ishida patted Ichigo's shoulder.

As he saw the prince's hand caressing his shoulder, Ichigo's eyes widened in horror. He immediately shoved harshly Ishida's hand off. What the fuck? The guy is flirting with me? He's gay, hell, I knew it as soon as I laid my eyes upon him, he looked so gay! Wait… He wanna give me a room… OH NOO…. He wanna rape me. He's sooooo gonna rape me. I've gotta get rid of him before! I don't wanna be raped (Well who wants?XD) I'm still a virgin, I don't want him to be my first! I want Ruk… I mean… I want a..a..a female to be my first! I don't wanna be fucked by a man! Heck if I had to be, I'd rather be by an handsome one, not a nerdy looking one! What am I thinking, there's NO way I'm gonna do that with a guy! Ichigo shook furiously his head.

Ishida watched Ichigo as the said man began to sweat drop. "He's agitating, he's gone hysteric, must be an effect of his illness…" Ishida thought. "Hey, don't go tense up, my doctors can provide you medicine which can help you relax" He said gently to reassure the orange haired man.

And what? Now he wanna drug me? Hell, he know how to behave…that means…he's a serial rapist. Ichigo gulped and glanced at Ishida. I have to save Rukia from him… Wait, I have to save my butt from him first! Think quick Ichigo… You're in the man's territory… Should I play along for a while? Definitely not… Who knows what he will do to me…and I definitely don't want Rukia to see that… Wait…Rukia's there! Why hasn't she talked back then? Why doesn't she prevent him from caressing me. He shivered at the thought. He quickly glanced at Rukia, sending her SOS looks.

Ishida noticed Ichigo's sudden change of behavior. He search where the orange haired man's look were aiming to and his gaze set upon a petite raven haired woman who stood motionless, arms folded on her chest, a bored look on her face. When she saw the prince looking at her, she raised her eyebrow, annoyed. "Oh, I almost forget about you, my apologies, you must know this poor man" Ishida told her with a smile.

Rukia shrugged a bit. If she skew the man. Of course…but she's not gonna help him anyway. Well…it was his fault after all. This idiot… Talking about the undersea world like that…He deserved what he got right now… First what had gotten into hill, why did he have to yell at the prince and to think he was the one who scolded me about being not unnoticeable enough…She tried to tell him to back off but he didn't even hear her…all this mess for what? Fighting to save all the fishes of the ocean. She rolled her eyes. You've got to be kidding me…That was so childish, she didn't even understand why he had put all his heart fighting for this cause. Well she had to admit she found that cute in him…but it was so pathetic…Then there was the mermaid thing. Chee… No wonder the prince thought he was a mad one…He looked like one after all. She looked at Ichigo who was struggling to get free from Ishida's grip. Then she look to Ishida with a sweet smile. "My bad…I'm afraid I don't know him." She said with a sweet voice.

"What the fuck!Rukia, Rukia! Rukia, please help me! You're damn too innocent to even know what he's about to do to me! But I swear, I'm in big, big danger!"

She tilted her head on the side. "Maybe I should help him finally…" She thought.

"Rukia"

She turned her head to see who was calling her and was surprised the one who called her was indeed the prince. She frowned."How do you know my name?" Sheasked him harshly.

Ishida smirked. "So you do know him…" Rukia's face were now as red as a tomato. Ichigo smirked. Well Ishida still held his arm but, he definitely hated the guy but couldn't help being happy he saw right through the midget's lies. Serves her right, trying to ignore him like that… "Can you tell me about this man's madness?"

Ichigo blinked. What the fuck? He thought that I'm mad? His mind went from fear to anger. He thought that I was mad! He's the one who's mad!. He scowled and gripped hard the hand Ishida which was still lain on his shoulder. "I'm not insane." He harshly said, glaring at Ishida.

Ishida glared back. "But you do believe in mermaids…" He muttered.

Ichigo opened his mouth to retort but was cut by the raven haired woman who stood in front of him. "He do not." She said bluntly. "You should know how to distinguish a joke from the truth, your highness." She added haughtily.

Ishida lifted his glasses and tried to regain all his composure. "Of course, Rukia-san."

Ichigo gulped, he didn't want to be Ishida right now… Rukia was damn frightening, he wondered how he managed to survive all these years.

Rukia sighed. She begun to walk back to the kitchen and waved her hand toward Ichigo to tell him to follow her. "Hurry up Ichigo, you should know we have important things to do."

Ishida watched them as they retired. He suddenly felt very tired. What had just happened right now? As he saw they were going out of his sight, he called them. "Wait! Who are you? I've never seen you before!"

Rukia turned around and smiled mysteriously. "I don't think you wanna know." She told him with a chuckle before disappearing in the shadow.

Ishida was dumbfounded. He was the prince he had the right to order them to state their identity, or he could simply arrest them. But he's mind was in a mess… The previous strange interaction with those weird people left him absent-minded. He just sat down and gazed blankly in the space.

* * *

I love Ichigo and Ishida's relationship.

Ichigo is acting like a little child, hope he's not too OOC...

Hope you liked it^^

Please, make my day and review^^


	12. Since I can't live without you

**12 Since I can't live without you, I'll follow you wherever you will go.**

**...**

Orihime went outside to meet up with her friend. Tatsuki's smile grew wide as soon as she saw her friend. She pulled her into her embrace. "Orihime! You're fine!" She pulled away to watch her with curious eyes. "So, how's the human world? And, more important, how are you doing with this prince charming guy?"

Orihime smiled. It was good seeing her friends again. Her smile grew wider and she started making weird movements with her arms to explain that everything was alright.

Tatsuki and Renji watched her open mouthed. Silence filled the air. A slight frown appeared on their faces. They both look at each other and started a mental conversation. Did you ever understand a little bit of what she's trying to say. Not in the least! Owning an answer from each other, they broke eye contact. Tatsuki looked at Orihime, scratched her head and said in a fake laugh, her eyebrows frown. "Oooooh! That's great, that's great!".

Orihime smiled back. Renji just…rolled his eyes. How could this girl could be fooled…

Tatsuki grabbed Orihime's hands and added with a smile. "Well, now, you know that Renji and I, we are here to help you! Don't hesitate to call us whenever you need us!"

"How will she call us if we're not around? It's not like she can yell "hey Renji!Tatsukiiii!" in the whole castle." Renji said mockingly.

Tatsuki grinned. "That's why, I brought you this shell!" She pulled a shell out of her pocket and raised her arm to show it to everyone. Orihime applauded enthusiastically. Renji glared. Then Tatsuki put it in the palm of Orihime's hand. "Here, if you blow in it, it will make a sound that only us, inhabitants of the sea can hear."

Orihime nodded.

Tasuki smiled back and patted her friend's hair. "Okay, now that we're done, we can leave her chatting the prince up, ne?" She turned around to looked at Renji, seeking a response.

Renji crossed his arms. "What about the enemies?"

"Ohhh! you're right, I've forgotten!" She looked seriously at Orihime. "Hime…I must warn you, you must be careful, Renji and I think that some individuals are trying to put a spoke in your wheels." She smiled widely and tapped on her friend's shoulder. "But don't worry too much, focus on your stupid prince! Renji and I take care of everything! And we are far too all and mighty for anybody else!" Renji rolled his eyes. "Well, with that said, I think we will leave you there, don't hesitate calling us." Tatsuki turned around waved eagerly, and shoved Renji before leaving arguing with him.

Orihime smiled at the sight of the two of them before anxiously hurry going back to Ishida.

...

...

Ishida was lost in his thoughts until he caught the sight of Orihime. "Oh, you're here, I'm sorry, I spaced out for a little." He said apologetically as she sat down.

She waved her hands saying 'Don't worry, it doesn't bother me'.

He sighed and leaned down in his chair as if he was suddenly exhausted. "No, it's bothering! Plus, the chief didn't even make what I ordered! I wanted you to taste Karakura's specialties!"

She wrote down and showed him the sketch with a bright smile. "It's not such a big deal! You're kind enough to offer me this meal, don't get too pessimistic, and let's enjoy what is offered to us."

Ishida smiled. "You're too kind hearted for my own good."

Orihime blushed madly and lifted the sketch. "Can I have some red paste bean please?"

Ishida's nose wrinkled, taken aback by the weird request. "Huh?…Errrr…sure…" He answered nervously.

...

...

"Damn it! He's so irritating! I don't understand how a kind hearted girl like Orihime can love….can love…that!" He yelled in anger.

"Ohhh! I've found a good plan!" She suddenly shouted.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Oi, are you even listening to me?"

They were back in their small room again, service was over, they had free time until dinner. Well actually, they had free time until whenever they want…As if they planned to return willingly to this hell of a kitchen!

Rukia popped her head. "Sorry… Were you saying something?"

Ichigo glared at her and rolled his eyes. "Nevermind…" He said absently. "So what's the plan?" He asked while sitting next to her.

"The plan is to use that!" She said happily, proudly putting a bottle in front of his face.

He took it and frowned. "Love potion?" He asked uncertainly.

She nodded. "Yep! We put a little of that in his drink and taaadaaaaa he fall in love with me."

"Wait, wait wait!" He hastily said. "Why would he fall in love with you?" He felt anger growing into him.

She rolled her eyes. "What? You want him to fall in love with you?"

"Not even in your dreams midget!" He yelled. He gave her back the bottle and lowered his voice. "You know I hate using love potion… These things shouldn't exist to begin with…."

"Oh…don't say that…It's too cheesy for your own good…"

"I don't want him to fall in love with you." He stated bluntly.

She put her hand on his arm. "It's not such a big deal. He fall in love with me, he marry me, we…"

"What! You want to marry him?" He yelled angrily while standing up abruptly.

"Look, it's not…" She begun.

"No! I don't even want to listen. Why are you doing this? Can't you let them live happily ever after? Damn, I can buy you this stupid chappy doll!"

She lowered her head. She couldn't tell him… "That's not the Chappy doll…"

He paused for few moment. It couldn't be…That's impossible…He shook his head. He had to check… He muttered in a low deadly serious. "Do you love him?"

She blinked…WTF? "Love who?"

"Him!This stupid prince, this stupid I'm-too-good-for-you guy! Do you love this bastard?" He yelled. He couldn't hold his anger anymore.

"No! Of course!" She answered upset.

"Then what? What's the problem with them being together? You don't want them to be happy? You can't stand them being happy? You can't stand anyone else being happy besides you?"

She stood up immediately. "What if I don't want her to be happy! What have she done to be happy? Nothing! She has just grown up in her luxury house, as a noble as she is, with servants doing everything she wants! I have to take care of myself since I was born! Everyday, I'm wondering if I will be able to survive the day after!" She yelled.

He looked at her intensely. "So you're not happy." He said seriously.

She rolled her eyes. "The answer is obvious."

"Well, it isn't to me!" He spat. "Well, it was 'til yesterday, but now, I don't know anymore."

She looked at him sharply, bitter in her voice. "Ichigo, I live in Inuzuri, how can I be happy…"

His face fell. Hurt could be seen in his eyes. He lowered his head to gather strength to look in her eyes. He looked at her sadly. "I also live in Inuzuri…. "He began. Her throat went dry. She bowed her head. Shame filled all her being. She could't look at him, she couldn't look at his hurt eyes. It was too painful. "I live in Inuzuri but I don't care much, cause I live with my…best friend. Days are hard, sure, but it's not bothering me cause we care about each other. I miss my friends, I miss my old life, I'm sad when there's no heat in winter, but as much as my life seems miserable, it isn't cause… There's so much more happy moments than sad ones. Sometimes, there's only a bowl of seaweed to eat but what may be pitiful became a great moment of share. That's why I like my life in Inuzuri and I thought…" He sighed. "That you felt the same… Guess I was wrong…Seems that me being here or not wouldn't change anything for you."

"I never said that!" She yelled.

"But you said that you were unhappy!" He sighed, grabbed his belongings and headed toward the door. "I'm sorry Rukia, I'm sorry to have intruded these past years but don't worry, I'm leaving now, you shouldn't be bothered anymore." He paused. "You know…you always say that I sound cheesy, but I believe in true love and that's why I will help Orihime, even if it means that I will have to face you. Bye Rukia, sorry I can't stay by your side anymore…If you're not happy, that means that I'm going nowhere like that." He smiled, and left.

Rukia was speechless. She couldn't talk him back. He was right. He had always been right. But she had to be selfish and ruined everything. He won't come back. She sobbed. She couldn't see how happy she was, how happy he made her life be. Of course, it wasn't the reason why she wanted to broke Orihime and Ishida, but when he came up with the happy/not happy reason, she couldn't help but answer him back. He slammed the door. She had lost the one she loved. She had lost her best friend. She was all alone now. She burst in tears, falling on the ground.

...

...

After lunch, they went to the beach. They walked there until they found a bunch of rocks. The rocks were overhanging the sea, waves were crashing down the bottom. He lead her there, offering his hand to help her climbing, which she accepted happily. They sat down there and he talked to her.

They stayed there until sunset. They admired its sight. "I love this view. I always come here when I feel depressed, I stay here for hours and wait until the sunset, it's the most beautiful view I've ever seen." He looked at her gently. "And I wanted to show it to you."

Orihime smiled. She was taken aback when he took her hand to help her standing up. She was about to fall but he gracefully caught her and took her into his embrace to prevent her from falling.

He looked intensely in her eyes, then turned his head to the ocean. "See, here, seems that you own the whole ocean!" He turned his attention to her again. "I really love looking at the ocean, it's wide and seems infinite! I can spend my life exploring each part of it. that's what I thought… Then I suddenly realize that I couldn't leave everything behind me like that. In someone's life there are always people he can't live without. He can live everywhere, as long as he is with those loved ones." Ishida gazed at the ocean. "I never thought that this could happen to me…I mean. I know someone since less than two days, and I already know that I can't live without her…"He paused. "That's stupid…I'm totally stupid, forget what I've said" He said bluntly, scratching the back of his head. He offered her his hand and smiled gently. "Let's head to the castle, it will soon be dark out there."

She nodded and took his hand. "I don't think what you've said earlier was that stupid, Ishida…" she thought , sighing, as they headed to the castle.

...

...

It was dinner's time. Ichigo was wandering around the dinner hall, ready to step in if anything involving a certain love potion happened. He tried to stay unnoticed what was his surprised when he bumped into a certain red haired one. "R…Renji!"

"Oi, watch where you walk!" Renji spat angrily, he looked up to see who was the bastard who had just bumped into him. "Ichigo?"

"What are you doing here?" They yelled in unison.

Renji stepped back and muttered. "I'm helping Tatsuki putting Orihime and prince of nerds together…"

Ichigo mouthed a O and smirked. "How is it going with Tatsuki?"

Renji blushed furiously. "Wh…what do you mean by that?"

Ichigo took Renji's shoulder in his arm, and grinned while saying teasingly. "Ooooh, you know exactly what I mean by that!." He paused. "Wait, you said that you're trying to put Orihime and prince of the annoying together?"

"Yeah…" Renji answered hesitantly, eyeing Ichigo suspiciously as the smile of the said man grew wider.

"So, you were the one who were singing at the lake!" Renji blushed? Seeing his friend didn't answer, Ichigo grinned. "That's really you! Renji is singing! that's so….sweet!" Ichigo said in a fake sweet voice while patting on his friend's head.

"Shut up!" Renji yelled, pushing Ichigo away. "At least, Tatsuki liked it." He added bluntly, then his eyes widened as he realized what he had just said.

"What?" Ichigo came close to his friend, his hand holding his ear. "Sorry, what did you say 'bout Tatsuki? I didn't hear well…"

"I…I didn't said anything!" Renji hissed.

"Ooooh…you sure? wasn't it something like…"

"What about you?" Renji asked suddenly, trying to change the subject.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, what about me?"

"Why are you here, dumbass!"

"Oh.." Ichigo scowled. "Well, I'm here to….to…to prevent Rukia from...preventing Prince of annoying from falling in love with Orihime." He said seriously.

Renji blinked. "Can you repeat that? I'm not sure I've understood everything…"

Ichigo sighed and deepened his scowl, he didn't feel like talking about that right now. "Well, I went here with Rukia, then."

Hearing this name, Renji immediately cut Ichigo. "So you're still hanging with…her…" He scoffed.

"Well more like live with her…but that's past tense, cause I'm not anymore, actually I plan to come back to my old life."

"It's a bit late for that, don't you think?" Renji spat.

"Well…I didn't realize…I didn't realize how useless I was to Rukia…I can't even make her happy… I don't…need to stay with her anymore." Ichigo said quietly, his voice filled with sadness.

Renji stayed silent. There was a dead silence.

"What do you advise me to do?" Ichigo finally said.

"Why do you want my opinion? You know I hate her…" Renji scoffed.

"Because your opinion means a lot to me…I know you will be honest…" Ichigo seriously said.

"I hate her more than everything, she stole my best friend and took him away from me…" He begun.

"I know, but tell me…if you were me what would you do?"

"I…"

* * *

Okay guys, next time I'll begin a flashback part (3 chapters^^)

Make my day and...review^^


	13. How I met my best friend

**13- How I met my best friend.**

**...**

"Come here, you filthy brat! Give me my goods back!"

Renji was running, his arms carrying dozens of little crabs. He smirked as the merchant yelled at him. As if this big oafish could catch him up. He turned to an empty backstreet and sat down. "Have a good lunch, Renji!" He said to himself as he bit into one of the little crabs. He liked talking to himself, it seemed that there was someone there, it made him feel less lonely. That was his everyday life. Waking up wondering what this day hold, stealing some food to have something to eat, and find somewhere to rest for the night. He knew nothing besides this way of life. He was 5 and he was alone.

"Okay…fat Omaeda went inside his shop, I just have to get there quietly and lunch will be served" Renji thought, smirking. He slowly approached the food display. He turned his head from right to left to check if there was no one around then slowly his hand to grab an orange. Fat Omaeda was in his shop but better stay careful. He quickly took one but was surprised to feel something smooth in his hand. Before understanding anything, someone strongly grabbed his wrist and lifted him in the air.

"Well, well, well, I finally caught you little brat! You thought you could steal someone like the great Omaeda!" The man who held Renji's wrist said laughing. He turned to the other shopkeepers. "Look, thanks to me, this shitty bugler won't bothering us anymore."

...

He was swimming in the street looking around, looking at the merest hideaway. Where did he go… He pouted, frowning. "I have to find him…" He thought. Suddenly, he heard noises coming from a stand. He looked up to see a man holding a boy in the air. Then he saw…"Kooooon!" He exclaimed, running toward the boy.

...

"Koooon!" A little voice chirped. Renji turned his head and saw a little orange haired boy swimming toward him. He followed the boy's gaze which led him to a lion stuffed in his own hand.

Ichigo grabbed the plushie from Renji's hands who was still hold in the air by Omaeda. He put it in a tightly embrace. "Thanks god I found you!"

Renji rolled his eyes. "what a momma's boy he thought, still playing with dolls…" he thought.

Ichigo lifted his head up to look to Renji and told him with a wide smile. "Thank you so much!" Then he turned to Omaeda. "Mister, could you release him so I can thank him properly?" He asked.

Omaeda lifted his eyebrow. "Are you kidding me? what do you think you are, little scum." He rose his fist, ready to punch little Ichigo but was cut by a panting woman.

"Ichigo-sama, Ichigo-sama!" the woman called him.

Ichigo looked up. "Oh! Kiyone, whatsupp?"

Kiyone glared at him before scolding him. "Ichigo-sama, don't answer like that, that's not proper! Besides, where were you? I've searched for you for hours! What Kaien-dono will say if you were hurt?"

Ichigo pouted. "I talk the way Kaien talks, why do you never scold him? And I had important things to do, that's why I went outside."

"What important things?" She asked him, her eyebrow lifted.

"Kon was missing, so I had to go look for him, he always get himself hurt…look" He put the toy in front of her eyes. "His ear is blooding."

Kiyone glared at the lion stuffed whose cotton was coming out from the ear. "Well, now that you found it, can we go back home?"

"Kiyone!" Ichigo yelled, looking at her, shocked.

"What? what's going on? are you alright? are you hurt?" She said in total panic.

"You know that Kon isn't a stuff! You must call him a "he", not a "it"!" He told her, pouting.

She was about to retort but Omaeda strongly took Ichigo's wrist and dragged him violently toward him. "Don't think I've finished with you little scum! You and your friend must pay for all what you stole!" He yelled, but as he was heating up, Renji kicked him in the stomach, freeing both him and Ichigo. Omaeda lost his balance from the kick and fell right on…clueless Ichigo.

"Oh! What have you done, you bastard! You've hurt Prince Ichigo!" Kiyone yelled at Omaeda.

"Pr…prince?" Omaeda muttered. He bowed the lowest he could, deeply apologizing. "I'm sorry, Ichigo-sama, I didn't know that you were….well, that you were you…"

Everyone ignored poor Omaeda. Kiyone quickly kneeled down near Ichigo, dusting him off. "Are you alright?"

"Hmmm. Yeaah…" He answered groggily.

"Let's head to the castle then!" She took his tiny hand and proceeded to lead him but he stood there. She looked at him quizzically.

"Wait! I wanna stay with my friend!"

She raised her eyebrow. "Your friend?"

"Yup! That's him who found Kon! Can I stay here, you can go back to the castle, I know the way back. Say yes, please, please, pleaaaaaaase." He asked her with his secret weapon: puppy eyes.

"Ha…."She said hesitantly. She wanted to say no, but definitely couldn't resist to those eyes. "Yeah I guess…"

"Thaaaaanks!"

They said goodbye and as soon as his baby-sitter left, her turned to Renji who looked annoyed. "Hi, my name is Ichigo, what's your name?"

"Renji…" He answered slowly.

"How old are you?"

"5"

"Whoooooaaaaa, 5, just like me!" Ichigo told him, admiration in his eyes. "But you are tall! I'm so small, my friend always call me "orange shrimp"! Say Renji….Do you want to be my friend?"

Renji was taken aback by the question. No one ever ask him this, no one ever talk nicely to him. He scratched the back of his head and answered shyly. "yeah..I guess..."

...

...

"So….Your little head hurts cause….the shop keeper sat on you…" The spiky dark hair man scoffed before bursting out of laughter.

Ichigo looked down…

"Kaien…don't make fun of him" The woman next to him said, then she turned to Ichigo and smiled gently. "It must have hurt, Ichigo"

"Come on, Miyako… I can't help it…Seriously Ichigo, that was THAT lame?" He chuckled.

"Shut up! He fell very fast, you know, you moron!" Ichigo yelled angrily. Kaien immediately burst into laughter. "What's so funny?" Ichigo muttered.

Kaien wiped a tear from the corner of his eyes. "How couldn't you avoid him? no wonder why Tatsuki always beat your ass!"

"Tatsuki wins 'cause I don't hit girls! Miyako taught me to be a gentleman!"

Kaien chuckled. "And I'm teaching you to be a man! But, I must say…you're not really gifted…" He said pretending to sigh. "You're still believing that this Kon stuff is living after all…"

"Kon is NOT a stuff!"Ichigo yelled, making Kaien laughing harder.

Kaien wiped a tear off the corner of his eye. "Yeaaaah! I'll try to remember this next time." He said yawning. "So, Kiyone said you had something to ask, what is it?"

Ichigo looked away, twiddling his fingers nervously. "Well, you see… I have something important to ask you..."

Kaien grinned "Oh!Ohhh!" He shouted, excited and eagerly waved at Miyako. "Come here Miyako!Little shrimp has something important to say!"

Ichigo scowled at the sound of the nickname. He cleared his throat. "I've made a friend today… And I was wondering if…" He looked away, Kaien craned his neck . "If…he could stay here." Ichigo said pointing Renji.

"Well…since he's already here what's the point of asking?" Kaien raised his eyebrow.

"Not here like that!" Ichigo whined. "I asked if he could live here!"

"I don't want to live here!" Renji suddenly shouted.

"But…you're my friend…." Ichigo said with teary eyes.

"Ichigo" Said boy turned to Kaien. "Things don't work like that. You can't ask him to live with you when you know him for what…less than an hour? How about his parents?"

"I don't have parents" Renji immediately said.

"See, see! He doesn't have parents like me, he is 5 like me, and he likes Kon like me! Can he stay, pleaase!" Ichigo said, leaning on Kaien forearm and looking up with puppy dog eyes.

Kaien glared at him. "This won't work on me you know… I'm not a stupid woman who can't resist to your evil technique of persuasion…"

"Kaien… Don't be mean…" She put Ichigo in her lap and smiled to him. "Come here Ichigo, you're so cute, don't listen to Kaien's words, he's a bad, bad guy…." She told him, while passing her hand in his orange locks.

Kaien looked at them and rolled his eyes. He turned to Renji who was still standing there rigidly. "Oi, kid, come here." Renji walked cautiously to Kaien. "You don't have parents right?"

Nod.

"Friends?"

He shook his head.

"Someone who looks after you?"

Shook his head.

"You have a proper house?"

Shook his head. Kaien paused.

"Got a tongue?" Kaien said sarcastically.

Renji was about to retort but was cut by a light voice.

"Kaien-dono!"

Kaien looked at the door and smiled. "Oooh, you came right in time, Ichigo has just arrived, and he brought a friend with him."

The little girl sighed. "I don't care 'bout the strawberry shrimp, I don't wanna spare with him, he's so weak that fighting him became annoying. I wanna train with you Kaien-dono, show me new moves to kick other's ass!" She pleaded, while Ichigo scowled.

"Tatsuki, language!" Miyako said with a sweet voice. "Kaien, really, you should watch your mouth when you talk to the kids, they get really bad habits otherwise…" She sighed.

"I can't help being a model for those two." He replied with a grin then turned back to Tatsuki. "Sorry, Tastuki, I'm pretty busy today…Plus, Ichigo made a new friend, you can beat this one up instead, he looks quite powerful…" Tatsuki pouted. Kaien stood up saying. "Well, kids, I've gotta go, see you around." He walked by, and ruffled Tatsuki's hair making her scowl. He stopped and turned around. "Oh, and Ichigo…" The little boy looked up. "Your friend can stay here if he wants."

"That's great, ne, Ichigo?" Miyako asked. He quietly nodded. Miyako smiled and kissed him on the cheek before following Kaien.

Tastuki scowled and turned toward Ichigo. She noticed a red haired kid behind her friend. She glared at him then turned to Ichigo. She asked pointing the new kid. "So, that's your friend?"

Ichigo nodded and smiled. "yep! since this morning!"

"Did you two meet at the weirdest hair color contest?" She asked quizzically.

"What did you say 'bout my hair?" Renji spat.

Tatsuki glared. "I wasn't talking to you moron!"

Renji huffed. "Yeah, but you were making fun of me!"

"I have the right to make fun of anything I want! If you're not happy you can leave before I beat you up!" She retorted angrily.

"Ohhh, you, beating me up, try me!" He made one step closer to her.

"Fine!" She yelled before jumping on him, grabbing him by the collar and punching him with her small fists. Of course, Renji responded and they begun a deadly fight.

"Haaa!" They both stopped fighting and turned to Ichigo. "You stepped on Kon!" The little boy screamed.

Tatsuki bent down to pick up the stuffed lion. She sighed."Stop crying like a baby!" She shook the plushie. "Look, it's not even broken." As she said that, one of Kon's eyes popped and was now hanged by a mere thread.

Dead silence…until Renji burst out of laughing.

Tatsuki looked at him quizzically then smirked. She walked toward him. "Finally, I think I like you!" He looked up, still chuckling. She extended her hand, smirking. "Tatsuki Arizawa."

He took her hand and shook it grinning. "Renji Abarai."

...

* * *

_I honestly dunno why I picked Kaien as Ichigo's guardian instead of Isshin... _

_Hope the characters are not too occ, I've always thought that Ichigo was a wimp when he was a child XD_

_I kinda don't know if 5 years old is not too young... Well, whatever..._

_Make my day and review ^^_


	14. How I met your mother

**14- How I met your mother**

They all arrived to the castle panting.

"And, the looser is the orange shriiiiimp!" Tatsuki announced dramatically.

"Well that wasn't a surprise." Renji added grinning.

Ichigo scowled. "I let you win." he muttered.

Renji grinned. "Ohh, really? Wanna race for real this time? Hundred of years wouldn't be enough to surpass me, strawberry!"

"Oi, what about me?" Tatsuki asked giving him a nudge.

"Well…since I'm a boy and you're a girl…never!"

She smacked his head. "What? I always beat you up!" She yelled, raising her fist.

"Yeah, because I don't hit girl!" He retorted.

She rolled her eyes. "You two always come up with that stupid excuse…can't you admit that I'm the strongest here? Who's the leader again?"

"That's you…" They both answered nonchalantly.

She grinned. "Yep, that's right!" She said proudly, hands on her hips. "Now let's race to the playing ground! Last arrived get the title of strawberry shrimp!" She yelled, running.

Three years have passed since they met Renji. Kaien and Miyako were dead, killed by a cliff collapse. The three were best friends since they met, and set up the 'strong ' group which was led by Tatsuki. They spent days playing together. Tatsuki and Ichigo had to attend several courses, since they were nobles. Ichigo was the one who made everyone meeting but it didn't prevent them from always nagging him. He was still the shorter and the weakest of the crew after all…

"I'm boooooored!" Tatsuki yelled.

"Then find something to do, you're the leader after all!" Renji told her yawning.

Tatsuki scowled. "I'm ALWAYS choosing what we do! Can't you guys decide sometimes?" She whined.

Renji immediately looked up. "And I can be leader then!"

Tatsuki hit him on the head. "NO!" She shouted. She turned and made her way toward Ichigo who was sitting on a couch. Her head popped out from behind as she looked what her friend was doing. "What are you doing?"

"Reading"

She sighed. "That's boring as hell!" She whined. Then, seeing he didn't even bothered to look p from his book, she took the said book from his hands and went to Renji.

Ichigo immediately stood up. "Hey! Give me my book back!" He shouted angrily.

Tatsuki turned to him smirking. "Reading is boring, don't you have enough with class we already have? Why don't you come play with us? You're scared to loose again?"

"Stop teasing him Tatsuki!" Renji shouted, then he grinned. "You know the Strawberry loves doing nerdy things!" He smirked.

Ichigo stood in front of them and angrily snatched his book out of Tasuki's hands. "Well, I may be a weakling like you always call me, but at least I'm not bored!" He yelled before leaving walking furiously.

Renji and Tatsuki blinked a several times. Ichigo's sudden outburst caught them off guard. Their friend wasn't the short-tempered type.

"What has gotten into him?" She snarled.

"Yeah, he was pretty upset…Doesn't look like him."

"Well… he was quite right after all…" She sighed.

Renji rose his eyebrow. "Ohhh, our great leader wants apologize to him?" He snickered.

"Well….yeah… we are always nagging him after all" She paused. "Well, that's normal, I mean, he's the weakest after all…"

"Do you wanna look for him?"

"Yeah"

They quickly left the castle trying to catch up with their friend.

...

Ichigo was fuming. Well they were always nagging him, well couldn't blame us for that, he was always the last in races, was always beaten up by those two, always the first to be frighten and freaking out. But today, he couldn't stand it, he was reading a really interesting and they had the nerve to bother him. Tschhh, they were probably happy without him around… He sighed and sat on the ground. He opened his book and started to read. "Here, I wouldn't be disturb by anyone!" He thought. And he though wrong.

"Ano…carrot boy?" A timid voice spoke.

A vein popped out of Ichigo's head. He was already in a bad mood, he wanted to be alone and someone had to come bothering him and call him carrot boy! He looked up ready gee rid of this freak but he gaped instead. In front of him was a little girl with dark raven hair, a bang across her face and the most beautiful and yet the saddest eyes he had ever seen. "What do you want, don't you see I'm busy?" He spat.

"Ano…you're sitting on my bag…" She said emotionlessly.

"Oh, sorry." He grabbed the small bag and handed it to her.

She took it and sat besides him. "So why are you upset?" She asked.

He raised an eyebrow at the question. She was a total stranger, why is she asking him that? "My friends are annoying." He sighed. "They are always nagging me, teasing me, I've had enough, I left."

She smiled slightly, a sad smile. "But they are friends, it's good to have friends…" she told him looking absently away.

He sighed. "Yeah, you must be right I guess…"

"Don't break away from them, it's important to have someone who cares for you."

He looked at her quizzically. "You don't have anyone like that?"

She looked down and closed her eyes. "What about you?"

He scowled cause she didn't answer his question. "Well, my friends and there was someone else, but not anymore."

"Who was he?"

Ichigo sighed. He didn't like talking about that but with this little girl, everything seemed easy. "He was my cousin and my guardian…" He begun then paused.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want…" She finally said.

He looked at her, his eyes locking with hers and smiled. "That's okay, I guess I can tell you." He broke away from her eyes and looked away. "He was harsh, but he cared about me. I admired him and he…died because of me…" He looked down.

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

He sighed. "He was looking for me cause I left to play without telling him. I was in a cavern when he found me. We were going out of it when the cliff collapsed. He pushed me out and was crushed by the collapse. He gave his life to save me. If I didn't go out this day, he would be here today…."

"I don't see what's the problem…" His eyes widened. "He gave his life cause he cared about you, you shouldn't be ashamed of that." She paused and looked down. "You shouldn't be ashamed he loved you more than his own life…." She looked up to lock her eyes with his. "Your cousin, was a great man. Don't turn what he has done into something useless. Live proudly cause you live thanks to him, you live for him."

Ichigo was breathless. "I…" He looked away. "Thank you."

They stayed there in silence until she finally stood up. "I've gotta go, my sister needs me…" She whispered

"Oh" He murmured. He wanted her to stay, but couldn't, she couldn't stay here just for him right? she had a life… She had made a few steps forward when he called her. "Wait! What's your name?"

She turned around and said. "Kuchiki Rukia…What's yours?"

"Kurosaki Ichigo"

"The one who protects…That's a cool name…" she made a step forward.

"Hey, Rukia!" He called. She turned around. "If you…if you need someone to talk…You can always come to me." He said sincerely.

She smiled. The first sign of happiness since she appeared and the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "Thank you, Ichigo." She looked at the grown. "See you later then." And she left. And he couldn't help thinking of her.

...

"Ichigo, hey Ichigo!" The said boy didn't answer and kept looking by the window. His friend snapped him on the head. "Oi, Strawberry!"

Ichigo looked up, rubbing his head. "What the hell Renji! Why did you hit me!" He yelled.

"I was calling you since what…5 minutes? And you kept ignoring me! You've been acting weird lately, what's wrong with you?" His friend asked him. "Is it about the book thing? Really, we said we were sorry!"

Ichigo sighed. "That's not that, sorry guys, I'm going outside, I wanna be alone." He said before leaving.

Tatsuki looked up. "Oi where is he going?" She asked.

Renji rolled his eyes. "He wanna be alone….again..." He muttered.

Tatsuki rose her eyebrow. "What happened to him?" She asked disbelievingly.

"I don't know, and it's pissing me off…I mean, what are friends for?" He muttered.

She came closer to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "I'm also worried you know… Wanna go check on him?"

"Yeah..."

...

Ichigo couldn't help thinking of Rukia. She was haunting him since the day they met. He wanted so badly to make her smile, to heal all her pains. He sighed. He had known her for…less than an hour but he wanted to share so much with her. He was walking to the place they had met. He went there everyday and sat on the grown until night came since this day. What was his surprise when he saw her there, sitting on the ground, holding her knees in her arms, her head resting on her knees, hiding her beautiful face. He ran as soon as he saw her. "Rukia! Rukia, you've come back, I'm so glad!" He said with a smile which faded as soon as she looked up. She was crying. "Rukia, what happened to you? someone hurt you? Rukia, don't cry!" He put her into in embrace.

She pulled away from his embrace and gazed absently away. "She died." She said simply.

Ichigo's eyes widened. he sat next to her.

"When I returned, she was dead. She looked after me since I was born and I couldn't get a medicine for her." She said sternly in a monotone voice. "I was wandering around instead of directly coming back. I was so sad when she left me, I thought that she didn't care about me anymore. That's why I didn't go as fast as I could to show her that I was hurt. That was stupid. What are a few days in an entire life… I wasn't strong enough to let her be happy…I killed her." She closed her eyes. "I'm a bad person…"

Ichigo listened to her. Then silence filled the air. He cupped her face in his hands, making her looking at him. "You're not a bad person, I can sense it from the bottom of my heart, you're not a bad person, you don't have to blame you for that." Then he blushed. "And you're not alone either, since the day we met, you and I are caring for each other cause we are friends."

"I…."

"Ichigo!"

They both turned their head to see a spiky haired girl and a red haired boy running toward them.

Renji and Tatsuki stopped when they saw their friend being close with a cute little girl. Renji frowned. "Ichigo, who is she?" He asked.

Ichigo glanced to Rukia then looked up, saying matter-of-factly "She's my friend."

Renji and Tatsuki both frowned thinking "How did he meet her?". Seeing that Ichigo wasn't going to say more, Tatsuki tried to asked. "B…but how…" She stopped seeing the little boy didn't even take any notice of her.

Ichigo turned to Rukia, locking his eyes onto her. "Do you wanna play with us? It may not sole anything but it can help brighten you mood." She nodded. Ichigo looked to his childhood friends firmly stating. "Rukia is coming playing with us today."

Renji and Tatsuki were surprised by Ichigo's statement. Never in their life, Ichigo had ordered something to us. Well, it wasn't really an order, but the way he said it, they both knew that they'd better do as he said. Tatsuki shrugged. "Yeah..sure…"

Ichigo grabbed Rukia's hand smiling. "Come on, let's have fun." She smiled back, stood up and followed his lead.

...

After the night ***, the two of them sneaked into Ichigo's room, careful not being seen by anyone. And now the were laying in the king-size bed, facing each other, none of them wanting to sleep.

"Today was fun, ne?" Ichigo beamed grinning.

She nodded and gave him a shy smile.

"Ne, Rukia, do you wanna stay here forever? with me…" He whispered blushing.

She widened her eyes and blushed. "Well…I…I can't…." Ichigo frowned. "I come from Inuzuri…" She stuttered.

Ichigo lowered his pained eyes. "Oh…I see." He said sadly. He looked up with hope. "But, you know that Tatsuki and I are the heirs of the kingdom, so if we want you to stay, then-" He said brightly.

Rukia shook her head. "It's not possible, Ichigo…" She said sadly.

He sat up, and looked at her with determination. "Okay, what about this. Let's have a bet."

She sat up to look at him. "A bet?" She repeated with a frown.

"Yeah, let's play chess, do you know how to play?"

She frowned. "I know the rules but I've never played…"

"Don't worry, it's okay. So we have a chess game. If I win, you stay here, if you win, I…I'll become your slave."

"Ichigo, I can't stay here!" She retorted seriously.

He smiled. "So you just have to win."

...

...

...

Renji and Tatsuki often slept in the same room, usually Ichigo also joined them, but tonight he preferred stay alone in his, with Rukia. Ichigo came in Tatsuki's room. She was sleeping on a bed while Renji was on the mattress on the floor. He went to his friend's bed and shook her lightly. "Tatsuki, hey, Tatsuki, wake up!" He whispered.

She opened her eyes and sat up groggily. "What?" She pouted.

Ichigo nodded, and went to Renji's bed, ignoring Tatsuki's complaints. He shook him lightly, but the red haired boy kept snoring.

Tatsuki jumped from her bed and came besides Ichigo. "You won't wake him up with that." She said plainly. Ichigo gave her a quizzical look. "Look and learn." She said before hitting Renji on the head.

"Ouch!" Renji screamed as e sat up. "What was that for, Tatsuki?"

Tatsuki rolled her eyes and pointed her thumb to Ichigo. "Ask him."

They both looked at Ichigo who gulped. "Well… I've got something to tell you."

Renji raised his eyebrow. "Just like that? In the middle of the night?" He said sarcastically.

"Let him finish!" Tatsuki scold, starting a long bickering.

"I'm leaving." Ichigo said bluntly, interrupting his friends' fight.

"What?" They shouted.

"I made a bet with Rukia and I lost. So, now I have to become her slave. That's why I have to go with her to Inuzuri."

Tasuki and Renji couldn't believe their eyes. "You're joking right?"

Ichigo shook his head. "I'm leaving tonight, I just wanted you to know cause your my best friends. Please, don't tell anyone, please…" He pleaded.

"Wait, Ichigo-" Tatsuki started.

"I'll be going now…" He said before standing up and walking away.

It was the last time Renji and Tatsuki saw their friend.

...

..

**Present Day**

"What do you advise me to do?" Ichigo finally said.

"Why do you want my opinion? You know I hate her…" Renji scoffed.

"Because your opinion means a lot to me…I know you will be honest…" Ichigo seriously said.

"I hate her more than everything, she stole my best friend and took him away from me…" He begun.

"I know, but tell me…if you were me what would you do?"

"I…I would stay with her. Ichigo you love her." He said sadly. "Whatever I will say, it won't change this fact. I don't know a lot of things about love, but I know that…living with the one you love, makes you the happiest man in the world…Trust me, I know it… That's why… go chase her…"


End file.
